Stewart Island/Rakiura is the third-largest island in New Zealand, diminutive in comparison to the country’sNorth IslandandSouth Island.
Yet it hosts a population of one of the largest of the kiwi: the Stewart Island tokoeka.
This flightless bird, a subspecies of the Southern brown kiwi, numbers in the thousands on the island, dwarfing its human population ofapproximately 500.
The avian national icon is just one slice of the natural riches on Stewart Island/Rakiura, a roughly triangular piece of land about 30 kilometers south of the South Island.
Rakiura National Parkcovers about 85 percent of the bright green island.
And as the Māori name—Rakiura, meaning “glowing skies”—suggests, it’s a prime location for viewing the aurora australis.
On the northern half of the island, podocarpand hardwood forests featuring coniferous trees with ancient lineages blanket the land.
Other areas are covered in shrublands and wetlands, as well as coastal dunes such as those lining Mason Bay.
A diversity of birdlife, including the kiwi, populates these relatively untouched ecosystems.
The tall trees of the podocarp forests produce various fruits attractive to avian inhabitants, such as bellbirds, with theirpure-toned calls, and the rarekākāpō, the world’s heaviest and only flightless parrot species.
One notable haven for birds lies on Ulva Island, located within the inlet near Halfmoon Bay.
Rats, which once preyed on bird eggs and chicks there, were deemederadicated in 1997, and the island has mostly remained free of non-native predators.
Conservationists have sinceembarkedon a project on the much larger Stewart Island/Rakiura toeliminaterats, possums, feral cats, and hedgehogs.
When darkness falls, Stewart Island/Rakiura’s human denizens can look skyward for the chance to observe stars, auroras, nearbydwarf galaxies, and other features of the Southern Hemisphere night sky.
In 2019, the remote and sparsely inhabited island was designated anInternational Dark Sky Sanctuary.
Amateur astronomers there and in other places with good night-sky views might search for objects of interest through Hubble’s Night Sky Challenge.
In May, when this image was acquired, targets imaged by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope that were also visible from Earth’s southern latitudes included a star cluster called the Jewel Boxand a peculiar elliptical galaxy known asCentaurus A, which may have resulted from two galaxies colliding.
NASA Earth Observatory image by Michala Garrison, using Landsat data from theU.S. Geological Survey. Photo and story by Lindsey Doermann.
JPEG
DarkSky InternationalStewart Island / Rakiura. Accessed July 29, 2026.
The GuardianNew Zealand to embark on world’s largest feral predator eradication. Accessed July 29, 2026.
New Zealand Department of Conservation, Birds. Accessed July 29, 2026.
New Zealand Department of Conservation, Podocarp-hardwood forests. Accessed July 29, 2026.
New Zealand Department of Conservation, Stewart Island/Rakiura. Accessed July 29, 2026.
Stay up-to-date with the latest content from NASA as we explore the universe and discover more about our home planet.
Beaver Island is one in a string of verdant and scenic jewels in a northern Lake Michigan archipelago.
Icy, isolated Peter I Island stirred up a show in the atmosphere off the West Antarctic coast.
Marshy, sandy terrain and an impassable inlet helped colonial forces repel British forces during a pivotal battle on the barrier…
Subscribe to the Earth Observatory and get the Earth in your inbox.
NASA’s Earth Observatory brings you the Earth, every day, with in-depth stories and stunning imagery.
Explore Earth Science
Open access to NASA’s archive of Earth science data