S&P’s wildlife spotlight: pīwakawaka
A photo taken by Paddy of a pīwakawaka (NZ fantail), sitting on a dead flax flower stalk.
Pīwakawaka (NZ fantail, Rhipidura fuliginosa) are friendly little birds that can sometimes be seen flittering between the branches as they search for insects; but are more often heard before they are seen with their very characteristic call (I can’t even put it into words, but it involves lots of chirping!). My fondest memories of these birds are from when I was on Takapourewa (Stephens Island) carrying out my PhD field work on tuatara, and they would be a welcome companion, following me through the forest during the day in the hope that I would disturb some tasty insects for them! They are notoriously hard to photograph though; the combination of low light conditions in the forest along with their quick movements means that we have few good photos of them!
These curious little birds will sometimes end up in houses, and we had more than a couple find their way inside our field house on Takapourewa. And while they are extremely charming, I later learned that this was a bad sign; with the pīwakawaka being associated with death in māori mythology.
While pīwakawaka (or tīwakawaka, piwaiwaka - depending where in Aotearoa you are!) are a common sight in the ngahere (forest) - it’s remarkable that we actually don’t know that much about them! There are a few studies that were carried out in the 80’s on their breeding behaviour; one beautifully detailed study by Mary Powelsland (1982) showed that they breed from August - February. Nest building typically begins in August; they build cup nests high up in trees, and make use of cob-webs to form the basis of their nests. Between 3-5 eggs are laid, and both males and females contribute to incubating and raising the young; although Mary observed that a single bird could rear young alone. Pairs of birds may raise several clutches of eggs across a breeding season; although clutches are frequently lost to predators.
Even though pīwakawaka aren’t endangered - that doesn’t mean they aren’t impacted by the same threats our other native birds face. A recent study found that pīwakawaka nesting success significantly improved in the 2 years after a major predator control programme was implemented in the Tongariro Forest. Another study showed that nesting success of pīwakawaka in urban Wellington was lower in areas with high rat abundance. But - they also noted that pīwakawaka may have developed an interesting strategy to avoid nest predation by rats; placing their nests of thinner branches made it more difficult for rats to access their nests! So while predators undoubtedly impact these birds - perhaps their ability to adapt to these threats is the reason we still frequently see them in our forests.
One reason I’m so drawn to these charming little birds - is that they remind me of willy wagtails (or ratchet birds, depending on where you are from!) from when I lived in Australia. And the likeness is no co-incidence; they are closely related, being members of the same genus!
Our two pīwakawaka prints featured on the front of one of our gorgeous linen clutch bags.
So from about now on, you should start seeing more of these charming little birds as they ramp up for another breeding season - so keep your eyes (and ears) peeled! To celebrate this fact, for the month of August (2022) we will have 10% off all our pīwakawaka products in our Etsy shop! Take a look here!
