page_title: Kaipara Harbour
section_title: Ecology
hierarchical_section_title: Kaipara Harbour / Ecology
caption_attribution_description: 11/4 Battery field artillery training exercise at Kaipara Bombing Range (Kaipara Air Weapons' Range). Weapon used: 105mm British light gun 14.5 FAT.
context_page_description: Kaipara Harbour is a large enclosed harbour estuary complex on the north western side of the North Island of New Zealand. The northern part of the harbour is administered by the Kaipara District and the southern part is administered by the Auckland Council. The local Māori tribe is Ngāti Whātua.
  By area, the Kaipara Harbour is one of the largest harbours in the world. It covers 947 square kilometres at high tide, with 409 square kilometres exposed as mudflats and sandflats at low tide.
  According to Māori tradition, the name Kaipara had its origins back in the 15th century when the Arawa chief, Kahumatamomoe, travelled to the Kaipara to visit his nephew at Pouto. At a feast, he was so impressed with the cooked root of the para fern, that he gave the name Kai-para to the district. Kaipara comes from the Māori kai meaning "food", and para meaning "king fern".
context_section_description: The Kaipara Harbour is a productive marine ecosystem, with diverse habitats and ecotones. There are tidal reaches, intertidal mudflats and sandflats, freshwater swamps, maritime rushes, reed beds and coastal scrublands. The area includes 125 square kilometres of mangrove forest. with subtidal fringes of seagrass.
  The Kaipara is a migratory bird habitat of international significance.   Forty–two coastal species are known, and up to 50,000 birds are common.   Rare species use the harbour for feeding during summer before returning to the Northern Hemisphere to breed, such as the bar-tailed godwit, lesser knot, and turnstone. Threatened or endangered native species, such as the North Island fernbird, fairy tern, crake, Australasian bittern, banded rail, grey‑faced petrels, banded and NZ dotterels, South Island pied oystercatcher, pied stilt, and wrybill  are also present . Significant local populations of black swan, pukeko, and grey duck also breed in the area.
  Land habitats adjacent to the harbour support some rare botanical species, including native orchids, the king fern, and the endangered kaka beak.
  In particular, Papakanui Spit on the south head of the harbour entrance, a mobile sandspit, is important as a breeding and roosting area for the New Zealand dotterel and the fairy tern. It also has areas of pingao. The spit was an important habitat for the Caspian tern. The birds have moved to other parts of Kaipara Harbour, possibly due to human disturbance. An air weapons range used by the New Zealand Defence Force is a short distance south of the spit.
caption: Battery field artillery training at the Kaipara weapons range using 105mm British light guns
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