tiri, one of our female hihi

The name ‘stitchbird’ came from the European interpretation of the call, resembling the word stitch. The Maori called the bird ‘hihi’ from their own interpretation of the call. Whatever the case these are one of New Zealand’s most threatened birds. There are only two honeyeaters in the world known to nest in tree hollows. Unlike any other honeyeater in the world it has ‘whiskers’ around the base of its beak and relatively large eyes. Their resting posture has wings which hang down beside the body with an upright tail. Little Barrier Island is the last stronghold for the stitchbirds. After the 1980s a series of island transfers occurred to Hen, Cuvier, and Kapiti islands, and National Wildlife Centre at Pukaha Mount Bruce. Today Stitchbirds inhabit Kapiti and Tiritiri Matangi islands. The National Wildlife Centre is the only place with stitchbirds in captivity.

Habitat
Stitchbirds once occurred throughout the mainland, on offshore islands such as Great Barrier, Little Barrier and Kapiti. Today, they are restricted to Little Barrier, Kapiti and Tiritiri Matangi islands. An ideal habitat requires a great variety of nectar and fruit producing plants such as those of pukatea, rata, kamahi and hinau. Their natural competitors are the bellbird and tui (both honeyeaters).

Fight for survival
In pre-European times, the stitchbird was found throughout the North Island and on Great and Little Barrier islands in the Hauraki Gulf and on Kapiti Island near Wellington. By 1883, the last confirmed mainland record of the bird was in the Tararua ranges. Introduced predators, and possibly disease resulted in the only survivors being confined to Little Barrier Island. Fortunately, the island became protected in 1894 when it was purchased by the Government from its Maori owners and made a bird sanctuary. This action, undoubtedly, saved the stitchbird from extinction. In 1977, the island was gazetted under the Reserves Act as a nature reserve. Despite recent attempts to establish stitchbirds on other islands (Kapiti, Mokoia and Tiritiri Matangi) the only self-sustaining population is still on Little Barrier. For the moment, the fate of the stitchbird is inextricably linked to the fate of this island and with the Hauraki Gulf area subject to high recreational and commercial pressures, it is not a time to be complacent.

Island Transfers
To assist stitchbird survival new release sites must be evaluated, especially those which lack predators and major food competitors. For instance, when New Zealand’s three honeyeaters are present in one area, the tui and bellbird out-compete the stitchbird and prevent it from eating its preferred food. This competitive hierarchy has implications for transferring stitchbirds to new habitats that contain tui and bellbirds.

A transfer of 37 stitchbirds to Tiritiri Matangi Island (Hauraki Gulf) in 1995 aimed to test the effects of competition on the successful transfer of stitchbirds. The island is predator-free but has bellbirds and tui. Stitchbirds on Kapiti Island are closely monitored and all birds have settled in the small areas of mature forest on the island. A supplementary feeding programme is being supported by Software Education, a company based in the Wellington area. Artificial nesting boxes have been provided to increase possible nest sites and additional nectar is supplied each year before breeding. Hopefully, such techniques will result in an increase in numbers. At present, there are approximately 40 birds on the island. Further islands are also being evaluated for stitchbird transfers. Little Barrier Island is monitored to make sure no predators, such as ship rats, are introduced to the island. A variety of research projects are being undertaken by universities to assist conservation efforts.

Recovery plan in action at Pukaha Mount Bruce

We currently have two breeding females in captivity. The information we are learning about the species in captivity will be applied upon their release in an effort to maintain and improve their success in the wild. The captive breeding program run at Pukaha Mount Bruce aids the recovery plan objectives to:

1. Develop effective husbandry techniques to be used in the event of disaster on Little Barrier Island.
2. Trial techniques which will assist in establishing new self-sustaining populations.

The overall objective for the species is to increase the number of self-sustaining populations to five. Currently the only self-sustaining population is on Little Barrier Island.

Captive breeding of hihi at Pukaha Mount Bruce aims to :

Research objectives

Keeping hihi in captivity is challenging because the species is prone to stress and disease problems. However, captivity also provides opportunities for us to develop techniques for managing such problems and for hand rearing techniques for chicks and juveniles.

Progress to date
Pukaha Mount Bruce has produced 21 chicks for release onto Kapiti Island since 2000. This number has helped supplement the population on Kapiti Island and provides important genetic diversity.

What we will do in the future
Pukaha Mount Bruce will continue to produce hihi offspring for release to Kapiti Island and for other islands where topping-up of the population is required. Further research into hand rearing techniques will continue.

Transporting tiny birds like hihi is a highly risky business. One female that was being transported from Tiritiri Matangi Island in September died not long after arrival after the boxes, containing the birds, were mishandled by the airport baggage handlers.

Currently we have:

Arawa
Arawa is our best breeding female producing a large number of offspring since she came to us from Mokoia Island in November 2002. As she was born in the wild we re uncertain of her age but she is probably 4 or 5 years old.

Ngatiwai
Wild caught on Little Barrier Island near Auckland, Ngatiwai came to us in 1998. Since then he has produced a number of offspring.

Mack
One of the favourites with members of the public for his fast acrobatic flying skills and loud calls; Mack is one of Ngatiwai’s offspring and he is now 4 years old.

Sally
Another one of Ngatiwai’s offspring and born here at Pukaha Mount Bruce, Sally is now 5 years old and has produced a number of young of her own. She has a sweet nature and often follows staff in the morning when they go into her aviary to give her food.

Araweeny
This young bird was born here at Pukaha Mount Bruce hatching in 2004. The floods at Pukaha Mount Bruce in February came when Araweeny was just a tiny chick on the nest. His mum “Arawa” was unable to obtain enough insects from the forest floor to feed Araweeny because the floods were ½ m high in the aviary for over 2 weeks. When Araweeny left the nest he was a little undeveloped, however, he’s made up for lost time and nowadays he’s a strapping young lad who’s full of curiosity and character. He will soon be released onto Kapiti Island.

Bramble
Our newest female, Bramble came to us from Tiritiri Matangi Island, near Auckland in September this year. She has started to build a nest inside the large wooden boxes which we provide. In the wild hihi build their nest in hollow cavities. The female makes an elaborate nest using large and small sticks and soft moss for the nest cup.

Herodotus
Along with Bramble, came our youngest male, Herodotus, or Roddy for short. This bird has already mated with Sally and he brings important genetic diversity to the Pukaha Mount Bruce hihi

Top