For the Love of Birds

Elaine Power. Small birds of the New Zealand bush. Auckland: Collins, 1970.

Elaine Power (1931-) is an Auckland-born artist and author best known for her books of bird illustration. Beginning with Small birds of the New Zealand bush, her books have remained popular with New Zealand children and adults alike since the early 1970s. Power’s paintings are pleasing to the eye while retaining a high degree of ornithological accuracy.

Displayed here is the brown creeper or pīpipi Mohoua novaeseelandiae, a small, noisy, flocking songbird found in forest and shrubland in the South Island and Stewart Island. It is a close relative of the yellowhead and whitehead.

Elaine Power. Small birds of the New Zealand bush. Auckland: Collins, 1970.
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Elaine Power. Waders in New Zealand. Auckland: Collins, 1971.

The spur-winged plover Vanellus miles is a ubiquitous native bird of open country, occupying habitats as diverse as riverbeds, sea and lakeshores to agricultural pasture and urban parklands. This is from Power’s second book of paintings, Waders in New Zealand.

Elaine Power. Waders in New Zealand. Auckland: Collins, 1971.
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Elaine Power. Bush and high country birds of New Zealand. Auckland: D. Bateman, 1988.

Elaine Power (1931-) is an Auckland-born artist and author best known for her books of bird illustration. Beginning with Small birds of the New Zealand bush, her books have remained popular with New Zealand children and adults alike since the early 1970s. Power’s paintings are pleasing to the eye while retaining a high degree of ornithological accuracy.

Elaine Power. Bush and high country birds of New Zealand. Auckland: D. Bateman, 1988.
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