The Hen and Chicken Islands (usually known collectively as the ''Hen and Chickens'') lie to the east of the

North Auckland Peninsula The Northland Peninsula, called the North Auckland Peninsula in earlier times, is in the far north of the North Island of New Zealand. It is joined to the rest of the island by the Auckland isthmus, a narrow piece of land between the Waitematā ...

off the coast of northern

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. They lie east of

Bream Head Bream Head is a promontory on the east coast of Northland Region, Northland in the North Island of New Zealand. Located at the end of a 30 kilometre-long peninsula, the head juts into the Pacific Ocean to the southeast of Whangārei. The Hen and ...

and south-east of Whangarei with a total area of .

History

Approximately 18,000 years ago during the Last Glacial Maximum when sea levels were over 100 metres lower than present day levels, the islands were hilly features surrounded by a vast coastal plain. Sea levels began to rise 7,000 years ago, after which the islands separated from the rest of New Zealand. These islands were given their European name by Captain James Cook, who first sighted them on 25 November 1769. It has been suggested that the name was inspired by an old name for the star cluster usually known as the

Pleiades The Pleiades (), also known as The Seven Sisters, Messier 45 and other names by different cultures, is an asterism and an open star cluster containing middle-aged, hot B-type stars in the north-west of the constellation Taurus. At a distance ...

. Originally owned by the Māori Ngā Puhi

iwi Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori roughly means "people" or "nation", and is often translated as "tribe", or "a confederation of tribes". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, ...

, they were sold to the New Zealand Government in 1883. The islands were made a scenic reserve in 1908 owing to the rarity of their flora and fauna, and became a wildlife refuge in 1953. Hen Island had actually passed from Māori hands a few years earlier, being bought by Thomas Outhwaite in 1872. It was bequeathed to the nation by his daughter Isa Outhwaite in 1927, and it too was named as a scenic reserve. In June 1940, the Canadian-Australasian

Royal Mail Ship Royal Mail Ship (sometimes Steam-ship or Steamer), usually seen in its abbreviated form RMS, is the ship prefix used for seagoing vessels that carry mail under contract to the British Royal Mail. The designation dates back to 1840. Any vessel de ...

sank off the islands after hitting a mine. Most of the cargo, which included gold bullion, was later salvaged.

Environment

The islands are noted for their bird life with colonies of

seabird Seabirds (also known as marine birds) are birds that are adapted to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent evolution, as the same enviro ...

s as well as forest birds which have become scarce or extinct on the mainland. The islands have been identified as an Important Bird Area, by BirdLife International because they are home to a breeding population of about 500 pairs of Pycroft's petrels. There are also native reptiles on the islands, including

tuatara Tuatara (''Sphenodon punctatus'') are reptiles endemic to New Zealand. Despite their close resemblance to lizards, they are part of a distinct lineage, the order Rhynchocephalia. The name ''tuatara'' is derived from the Māori language and m ...

, geckos and skinks.

The islands

Hen Island, or mi, Taranga, lies to the southwest from the rest of the archipelago. It is also considerably larger than the Chicken Islands, or , which comprise a chain of six small islands running north-west to south-east to the north of Hen Island. The chain consists of and Islands (together called North West Chicken), (West Chicken), Lady Alice Island or (Big Chicken), (Middle Chicken), and Coppermine Island (Eastern Chicken).

Taranga (Hen) Island

is the largest island by some considerable margin, totalling . Long and thin, it has a length of and an average width of less than . A remnant of a four-million-year-old volcano, the island is dominated by a rocky ridge reaching to about at its highest point, called The Pinnacles. Sail Rock, a stack, rises from the ocean to the south of Hen Island, and is a prominent navigational point for

yacht A yacht is a sailing or power vessel used for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, though the term generally applies to vessels with a cabin intended for overnight use. To be termed a , as opposed to a , such a pleasu ...

s. By the late 1800s, Hen Island was the only place in New Zealand with a surviving population of

North Island saddleback The North Island saddleback (''Philesturnus rufusater'') is a forest-dwelling passerine bird species endemic to the North Island of New Zealand. It was once considered conspecific with the South Island saddleback. The IUCN lists the species as Ne ...

. The once common species of forest bird found in the North Island, was nearly wiped out by the human introduction of mammalian predators, such as rats and stoats. In the 1960s translocations of saddleback from Hen Island to other island sanctuaries around New Zealand began.

Wareware and Muriwhenua

Two small rocky islands with a combined area of .

Mauitaha

This , rugged, scrub-covered rock lies to the south of Muriwhenua. It rises to . The New Zealand Department of Conservation and the

Ngati Wai ''Ngati'' is a 1987 New Zealand feature film directed by Barry Barclay, written by Tama Poata and produced by John O'Shea. Production ''Ngati'' is of historical and cultural significance in New Zealand as it is the first feature film written an ...

iwi have entered into partnership to set up a sanctuary for the

Polynesian rat The Polynesian rat, Pacific rat or little rat (''Rattus exulans''), known to the Māori as ''kiore'', is the third most widespread species of rat in the world behind the brown rat and black rat. The Polynesian rat originated in Southeast Asia, ...

, or kiore, on the islands Mauitaha and Araara. A spokesman for Ngati Wai said the kiore heritage will be protected as the movement of the kiore through the Pacific paralleled the migration of the New Zealand Maori. A spokesman for the Department of Conservation said the Department's policy change from eradication would assist scientific research.

Lady Alice Island

Named after Lady Alice Fergusson (wife of Governor General Sir

Charles Fergusson Sir Charles Fergusson, 7th Baronet, (17 January 1865 – 20 February 1951), was a British Army officer and the third Governor-General of New Zealand. Early life and military career Fergusson was the son of Sir James Fergusson, 6th Baronet, ...

), it is the largest of the five Chickens and is of particular significance because of its flora and fauna. The island covers and is surrounded by rocky reefs. It was occupied by

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

until the 1820s, and was used as a base for fishermen in the 1890s. Cattle were introduced at about this time, but were removed in the 1920s.

Whatupuke

Formerly known as ''Whakahau'' this island is composed of a large eastern section and a peninsula to the southwest. The coast of the peninsula forms one of the chain's main land features, a wide bay (Starfish Bay). The island covers , and is steep, rising to .

Coppermine Island

Coppermine island formerly known as ''Mauipane'' covers an area of . It is composed of two sections joined by a short isthmus. As the name suggests, there are copper deposits on the island, but attempts at mining them in 1849 and 1898 proved unprofitable.

Gallery

File:Hen and Chicken Islands.jpg, Hen and Chicken Islands from Department of Conservation Campsite, Uretiti, New Zealand.

References

External links

Hen and Chickens chain
{{Authority control Whangarei District Important Bird Areas of New Zealand Protected areas of the Northland Region Islands of the Northland Region