Hauturu – Handsome hihi

Hihi, or stitchbirds, were once believed to be widespread throughout the North Island and northern offshore islands. By 1885, the only remaining population was on Te Hauturu-o-Toi/Hauturu. Andreas Reischek, a noted and avid collector of species for European museums, recorded in his book Yesterdays in Maoriland that he had been to Hauturu several times during the 1880s and found only a few hihi present. But let it also be noted that he sent over 100 hihi skins to European museums! One of the reasons Hauturu was set aside as a nature reserve in 1895 was to protect this last remaining haven for the hihi.

It is recorded that Maori used the bright yellow feathers of the male hihi for decoration. It was the birds’ unusual ‘stitch stitch’ call that gave it the European name of stitchbird.

Hihi are another of New Zealand’s many unique species, found nowhere else in the world.

They are so unique they have been classed in their own distinctive family, separate from all other species. Hihi are one of our few bird species where the male and female plumage is quite different. The showy males are black and yellow with white tufts on their head and shoulders, the female being a duller grey with white shoulder patches. In both sexes the bill curves down slightly. They feed on nectar, fruit and insects. The birds have an unusual breeding system often with more than one partner. They are the only birds known to sometimes mate face to face.

In the 1980s attempts were made to introduce hihi to other island sanctuaries from their stronghold on Hauturu. These early translocations failed and it wasn’t until supplementary feeding stations were used that hihi survived elsewhere. There are now thriving populations on two off-shore islands (Kapiti and Tiritiri Matangi) and several mainland islands (Maungatautari in the Waikato,  Zealandia in Wellington, Bushy Park near Whanganui and Rotokare in Taranaki).  Indeed, Tiritiri Matangi’s  population is doing so well that they have been able to provide birds for translocating to other areas. Hihi require mature native forest to thrive and so all of these populations require supplementary feeding. On Tiri, the bird feeding stations are a wonderful place to see hihi up close.

Hauturu, with its large variety of plant and insect food sources and mature trees with suitable hollows in for hihi to nest, still has the only self-sustaining population. This population is estimated to be around 3000 birds. The best time to see hihi on Hauturu are when the pohutukawa are in flower and the birds are down near the ranger’s house feasting on nectar and insects.

Lyn Wade, Little Barrier Island Supporters Trust
www.littlebarrierisland.org.nz