During the height of the Delta outbreak last year, Wellington awoke to some exciting news – a pair of titipounamu, New Zealand’s smallest bird, which had been missing from the city for more than 100 years, had built a tiny nest in a patch of urban forest just a few kilometres from parliament.
It was a huge point of pride for Wellingtonians and has been credited to the creation of urban eco-sanctuary Zealandia. Opened in 1999, the sanctuary can lay claim to having boosted urban bird populations and fostered a sense of city-wide unity over conservation.
