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Whitehead (bird)
Encyclopedia
The Whitehead or Pōpokotea is a small species ( 15 cm in length, 18.5/14.5 g.) of passerine
bird endemic to New Zealand. It is currently classified in the family Pachycephalidae
and thus regarded as a relative of the whistlers
in Australia and the unusual Pitohui
, a genus of poisonous birds from New Guinea
.The Male Whitehead's upperparts, wings and tail are a pale brown in colour, while the head and underparts are white -in the case of the former an almost pure white in colour. Females and juveniles have similar colouration except that the nape
and crown (top of the head) are shaded brown. The black beak
and eyes contrast with the white head and the feet are bluish black in colouration.
Formerly quite common and widespread in native forest
s in the North Island
, the Whitehead has suffered a marked decline in the past two centuries since European colonisation and today is restricted to a fraction of its former range. Historically, deforestation
has destroyed large areas of habitat for this species but today the greatest threat is the predations of invasive mammalian species
such as rat
s and stoat
s. It has been the subject of an active conservation campaign and has been successfully reintroduced into reserves near Auckland
and Wellington respectively. In the past Whiteheads held a special place in maori culture. As well as the species appearing in many legends,Whiteheads were viewed by maori to have roles as messengers of the gods and as fortune tellers or seer
s - and because of these beliefs, live birds were caught and used in several different kinds of ceremonial rites.
of this species has always been restricted to the North Island
of New Zealand, as well as several offshore islands surrounding it, including Little Barrier Island (where it is the most common forest bird) Great Barrier Island
and Kapiti Island
; it has however, contracted markedly since the 19th century due to a number of human induced factors- see the Conservation section below. The distributions of the Whitehead and its close relative, the Yellowhead are sympatric, with the range of the latter species conversely being restricted to the South Island
. Whiteheads are generally restricted to the larger tracts of older scrub and native forest that remain in the North Island but have proven their adaptibility by establishing populations in a number of exotic pine plantations, particularly on the North Island Volcanic Plateau
.
behaviour. The flocks generally consist of small family groups.
The diet of Whiteheads is primarily insectivorous in nature - they are classed as arboreal insectivores. Their main prey are spiders, moths, caterpillars and beetles which are gleaned
from tree trunks, leaves and branches in the canopy and subcanopy. They rarely feed on the forest floor. They will supplement their predominantly insectivorous diet with the fruits of native plants such as Māhoe
and matipo and like the Yellowhead
, they frequently hang upside down from branches or twigs while feeding. Whiteheads will often form mixed-species feeding flock
s with Saddleback
s, kākāriki
or Silvereye
s to catch the insects these birds dislodge as they feed.
of variable colouration are laid, the incubation period
is generally around 18 days and fledging takes a further 16-19, the chicks being fed by both parents. In November and December, the Long-tailed Cuckoo
frequently acts as a brood parasite
of nesting whiteheads by pushing their eggs out of the nest and laying a single egg of its own in their place
among the forest birds of New Zealand. They featured not only in Māori folklore
and legends but also in a number of rites for which live individuals were captured. Flocks of Whiteheads form part of the hākuturi
, a multitude of small birds sometimes called Te Tini o te Hākuturi - "The myriads of Hākuturi", the spirit guardians of the forest. In a Ngāti Mahuta
story, the culture hero Rata
went into the forest and cut down a tree to make a canoe, but failed to perform the proper placatory rites to Tāne
, god of the forest. Whiteheads and Riflemen
whistled shrilly at him in admonishment and gathered together the pieces of the tree until it stood whole again. This happened several times until Rata showed remorse and the birds felled the tree and made the canoe for him. In some stories, the Whitehead was one of several small birds chosen by Māui
to accompany him in his (ultimately unsuccessful and fatal) quest to abolish death by killing Hine-nui-te-pō
, the goddess of night and death. The mobbing behaviour sometimes seen in Whiteheads is reflected in one legend which tells of swarms of Whiteheads scratching out the eyes of Whaitiri
, goddess of thunder, as they pass her house, thus causing her to go blind.
The Whitehead, as a messenger between man and the gods, was a very tapu (sacred) bird. This status was reflected in its role in the tohi rite, a ritual performed over an infant. This entailed a tohunga
touching the head of an infant with a live Whitehead and reciting a karakia
(incantation) firstly to cause the mana (power and prestige) of the gods to descend on the child from the gods and secondly to open the child's eyes and ears to the knowledge of the ancestors. After the karakia was complete the bird was freed to demonstrate that the mana received would return to the gods when the child died. The Whitehead also held this role as a messenger to the gods when a new pā
(fortified village) was dedicated. Once the ceremonies were complete a single Whitehead was released unharmed, the pā became free of tapu, and could be safely entered. The purpose of this rite was to bring prosperity and vitality to the pā and its people in times of war and peace. When a candidate was applying to a senior tohunga to become a matakite, or seer, he had first to catch a small bird such as a Whitehead. After more ritual the applicant was shut in a hut to sleep with the bird for a night. Next morning he opened the door and if the bird flew away of its own accord, his suitability to be a seer, as indeed the Whitehead was regarded to be, was confirmed. In the past, the appearance of a flock of whiteheads was interpreted by Māori from the upper regions of the Whanganui River
as a sign that kēhua (ghost
s) were nearby
remains of Whiteheads have been found throughout the North Island and the species was still very widespread when European settlement of New Zealand began in the 1840s. However, soon after, they began to decline as a result of both the widespread clearance of lowland forests for agriculture and the predations of several species of mammalian predators introduced by Europeans, including several species of rodent
s and mustelids. Such introduced species
remain a problem for many Whitehead populations today, as they both compete with them for food and prey upon the birds themselves. As a result, the species has experienced local extinctions of many of its populations throughout the North Island, particularly in its northern regions ; Whiteheads disappeared from Northland in the 1870s and from the greater Auckland
area in the 1880s. They also disappeared from Great Barrier Island
in the 1950s.
In an effort to restore this species to its former range, a number of conservation reintroductions have been carried out in the last twenty years . All these reintroductions were carried out as part of wider efforts towards eco-restoration at each of the native forest sites concerned; these reintroductions are summarized in the table below;
Due to the northern North Island local extinctions, Whiteheads were, until recently, extinct on the mainland of the North Island north of about Hamilton
. However, this situation has been rectified by 3 of the above releases in the Hunua Ranges, Waitakere Ranges and on Tiritiri Matangi Island. The Karori and Tiritiri Matangi reintroductions were done independently while the Hunua reintroduction was a Auckland Regional Council
initiative. The Auckland Regional Council also played a part in the Waitakere Ranges "Ark in the Park" project release - the project is a joint effort being a joint effort between this local government body and the NZ conservation not for profit NGO Forest and Bird.
Passerine
A passerine is a bird of the order Passeriformes, which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds or, less accurately, as songbirds, the passerines form one of the most diverse terrestrial vertebrate orders: with over 5,000 identified species, it has roughly...
bird endemic to New Zealand. It is currently classified in the family Pachycephalidae
Pachycephalidae
The family Pachycephalidae, collectively the whistlers, includes the whistlers, shrike-thrushes, shrike-tits, pitohuis and Crested Bellbird, and is part of the ancient Australo-Papuan radiation of songbirds. Its members range from small to medium in size, and occupy most of Australasia...
and thus regarded as a relative of the whistlers
Pachycephala
Pachycephala is a genus of birds native to Oceania and Southeast Asia. They are commonly known as typical whistlers. Older guidebooks may refer to them as thickheads, a literal translation of the generic name, which is derived from the Ancient Greek terms pachys "thick" + kephale "head".-Species in...
in Australia and the unusual Pitohui
Pitohui
The pitohuis are a genus of birds endemic to New Guinea, belonging to the family Pachycephalidae.Currently six species are classified in the genus, though current molecular genetics research suggests that significant reclassification of the Pachycephalidae may be needed.-Species:* Variable...
, a genus of poisonous birds from New Guinea
New Guinea
New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...
.The Male Whitehead's upperparts, wings and tail are a pale brown in colour, while the head and underparts are white -in the case of the former an almost pure white in colour. Females and juveniles have similar colouration except that the nape
Nape
The nape is the back of the neck. In technical anatomical/medical terminology, the nape is referred to by the word nucha, which also gives the adjective corresponding to "nape" in English, "nuchal"....
and crown (top of the head) are shaded brown. The black beak
Beak
The beak, bill or rostrum is an external anatomical structure of birds which is used for eating and for grooming, manipulating objects, killing prey, fighting, probing for food, courtship and feeding young...
and eyes contrast with the white head and the feet are bluish black in colouration.
Formerly quite common and widespread in native forest
Forest
A forest, also referred to as a wood or the woods, is an area with a high density of trees. As with cities, depending where you are in the world, what is considered a forest may vary significantly in size and have various classification according to how and what of the forest is composed...
s in the North Island
North Island
The North Island is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the much less populous South Island by Cook Strait. The island is in area, making it the world's 14th-largest island...
, the Whitehead has suffered a marked decline in the past two centuries since European colonisation and today is restricted to a fraction of its former range. Historically, deforestation
Deforestation
Deforestation is the removal of a forest or stand of trees where the land is thereafter converted to a nonforest use. Examples of deforestation include conversion of forestland to farms, ranches, or urban use....
has destroyed large areas of habitat for this species but today the greatest threat is the predations of invasive mammalian species
Invasive species
"Invasive species", or invasive exotics, is a nomenclature term and categorization phrase used for flora and fauna, and for specific restoration-preservation processes in native habitats, with several definitions....
such as rat
Rat
Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents of the superfamily Muroidea. "True rats" are members of the genus Rattus, the most important of which to humans are the black rat, Rattus rattus, and the brown rat, Rattus norvegicus...
s and stoat
Stoat
The stoat , also known as the ermine or short-tailed weasel, is a species of Mustelid native to Eurasia and North America, distinguished from the least weasel by its larger size and longer tail with a prominent black tip...
s. It has been the subject of an active conservation campaign and has been successfully reintroduced into reserves near Auckland
Auckland
The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...
and Wellington respectively. In the past Whiteheads held a special place in maori culture. As well as the species appearing in many legends,Whiteheads were viewed by maori to have roles as messengers of the gods and as fortune tellers or seer
Clairvoyance
The term clairvoyance is used to refer to the ability to gain information about an object, person, location or physical event through means other than the known human senses, a form of extra-sensory perception...
s - and because of these beliefs, live birds were caught and used in several different kinds of ceremonial rites.
Habitat and distribution
The rangeRange (biology)
In biology, the range or distribution of a species is the geographical area within which that species can be found. Within that range, dispersion is variation in local density.The term is often qualified:...
of this species has always been restricted to the North Island
North Island
The North Island is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the much less populous South Island by Cook Strait. The island is in area, making it the world's 14th-largest island...
of New Zealand, as well as several offshore islands surrounding it, including Little Barrier Island (where it is the most common forest bird) Great Barrier Island
Great Barrier Island
Great Barrier Island is a large island of New Zealand, situated to the north-east of central Auckland in the outer Hauraki Gulf. With an area of it is the fourth-largest island of New Zealand's main chain of islands, with its highest point, Mount Hobson, rising...
and Kapiti Island
Kapiti Island
-External links:* , Department of Conservation* * , Nature Coast Enterprise *...
; it has however, contracted markedly since the 19th century due to a number of human induced factors- see the Conservation section below. The distributions of the Whitehead and its close relative, the Yellowhead are sympatric, with the range of the latter species conversely being restricted to the South Island
South Island
The South Island is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand, the other being the more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman Sea, to the south and east by the Pacific Ocean...
. Whiteheads are generally restricted to the larger tracts of older scrub and native forest that remain in the North Island but have proven their adaptibility by establishing populations in a number of exotic pine plantations, particularly on the North Island Volcanic Plateau
North Island Volcanic Plateau
The North Island Volcanic Plateau is a volcanic plateau covering much of central North Island of New Zealand with volcanoes, lava plateaus, and crater lakes....
.
Ecology and Behaviour
When encountered Whiteheads often display flockingFlocking (behavior)
Flocking behavior is the behavior exhibited when a group of birds, called a flock, are foraging or in flight. There are parallels with the shoaling behavior of fish, the swarming behavior of insects, and herd behavior of land animals....
behaviour. The flocks generally consist of small family groups.
Feeding
Gleaning (birds)
Gleaning is a term for a feeding strategy by birds in which they catch invertebrate prey, mainly arthropods, by plucking them from foliage or the ground, from crevices such as rock faces and under the eaves of houses, or even, as in the case of ticks and lice, from living animals. This behavior is...
from tree trunks, leaves and branches in the canopy and subcanopy. They rarely feed on the forest floor. They will supplement their predominantly insectivorous diet with the fruits of native plants such as Māhoe
Melicytus ramiflorus
Melicytus ramiflorus is a small tree of the family Violaceae endemic to New Zealand.It grows up to 10 metres high with a trunk up to 60 cm in diameter, it has smooth, whitish bark and brittle twigs...
and matipo and like the Yellowhead
Yellowhead (bird)
The Yellowhead or Mohua is a small insectivorous, passerine bird endemic to the South Island of New Zealand...
, they frequently hang upside down from branches or twigs while feeding. Whiteheads will often form mixed-species feeding flock
Mixed-species feeding flock
A mixed-species feeding flock, also termed a mixed-species foraging flock, mixed hunting party or informally bird wave, is a flock of usually insectivorous birds of different species, that join each other and move together while foraging...
s with Saddleback
Tieke
The Saddleback or Tieke is a previously rare and endangered New Zealand bird of the family Callaeidae. It is glossy black with a chestnut saddle. Its taxonomic family is also known as that of the "wattlebirds" and includes the two subspecies of the Kokako as well as the extinct Huia...
s, kākāriki
Kakariki
The three species of Kākāriki or New Zealand parakeets are the most common species of parakeet in the genus Cyanoramphus, family Psittacidae. The birds' Māori name, which is the most commonly used, means "small parrot"....
or Silvereye
Silvereye
The Silvereye or Wax-eye is a very small passerine bird native to Australia, New Zealand and the south-west Pacific islands of Lord Howe, New Caledonia, Loyalty Islands, Vanuatu, and Fiji...
s to catch the insects these birds dislodge as they feed.
Reproduction
Unlike the Yellowhead, which nests only in the cavities of tree trunks which are generally high up in the canopy, the Whitehead builds a more conventional cup shaped nest at a height between 1 and 15 metres above the ground; either in the canopy of the forest or lower down in smaller trees or shrubs. Between 2-4 eggsBird egg
Bird eggs are laid by females and incubated for a time that varies according to the species; a single young hatches from each egg. Average clutch sizes range from one to about 17...
of variable colouration are laid, the incubation period
Incubation period
Incubation period is the time elapsed between exposure to a pathogenic organism, a chemical or radiation, and when symptoms and signs are first apparent...
is generally around 18 days and fledging takes a further 16-19, the chicks being fed by both parents. In November and December, the Long-tailed Cuckoo
Long-tailed Cuckoo
The Long-tailed Cuckoo , also known as the Long-tailed Koel or the Koekoeā in Māori, is a species of cuckoo in the Cuculidae family...
frequently acts as a brood parasite
Brood parasite
Brood parasites are organisms that use the strategy of brood parasitism, a kind of kleptoparasitism found among birds, fish or insects, involving the manipulation and use of host individuals either of the same or different species to raise the young of the brood-parasite...
of nesting whiteheads by pushing their eggs out of the nest and laying a single egg of its own in their place
Place in Māori culture; Legends and ceremonial rites
In times past, the Whitehead held a special place within Māori cultureMaori culture
Māori culture is the culture of the Māori of New Zealand, an Eastern Polynesian people, and forms a distinctive part of New Zealand culture. Within the Māori community, and to a lesser extent throughout New Zealand as a whole, the word Māoritanga is often used as an approximate synonym for Māori...
among the forest birds of New Zealand. They featured not only in Māori folklore
Maori mythology
Māori mythology and Māori traditions are the two major categories into which the legends of the Māori of New Zealand may usefully be divided...
and legends but also in a number of rites for which live individuals were captured. Flocks of Whiteheads form part of the hākuturi
Hakuturi
In Māori mythology, the hākuturi are guardians of the forest. They are responsible for guarding the forest, and to avenge any desecration of its sacredness. When Rātā cut down a tree without first making the proper incantations and rituals, the hākuturi rebuked him by re-erecting the tree...
, a multitude of small birds sometimes called Te Tini o te Hākuturi - "The myriads of Hākuturi", the spirit guardians of the forest. In a Ngāti Mahuta
Ngati Mahuta
Ngāti Mahuta is a sub-tribe of the Waikato tribe of Māori in the North Island of New Zealand ....
story, the culture hero Rata
Rata (Maori mythology)
In Māori mythology, accounts vary somewhat as to the ancestry of Rātā. Usually he is a grandson of Tāwhaki and son of Wahieroa. Wahieroa is treacherously killed by Matuku-tangotango, an ogre...
went into the forest and cut down a tree to make a canoe, but failed to perform the proper placatory rites to Tāne
Tane
In Māori mythology, Tāne is the god of forests and of birds, and the son of Ranginui and Papatuanuku, the sky father and the earth mother, who lie in a tight embrace...
, god of the forest. Whiteheads and Riflemen
Rifleman (bird)
The Rifleman is a small insectivorous passerine bird that is endemic to New Zealand. It belongs to the Acanthisittidae family, also known as the New Zealand wrens, of which it is one of only two surviving species...
whistled shrilly at him in admonishment and gathered together the pieces of the tree until it stood whole again. This happened several times until Rata showed remorse and the birds felled the tree and made the canoe for him. In some stories, the Whitehead was one of several small birds chosen by Māui
Maui (Maori mythology)
In Māori mythology, Māui is a culture hero famous for his exploits and his trickery.-Māui's birth:The offspring of Tū increased and multiplied and did not know death until the generation of Māui-tikitiki . Māui is the son of Taranga, the wife of Makeatutara...
to accompany him in his (ultimately unsuccessful and fatal) quest to abolish death by killing Hine-nui-te-pō
Hine-nui-te-po
Hine-nui-te-pō is a goddess of night and death and the ruler of the underworld in Māori mythology. She is a daughter of Tāne. She fled to the underworld because she discovered that Tāne, whom she had married, was also her father. The red colour of sunset comes from her.All of the children of Rangi...
, the goddess of night and death. The mobbing behaviour sometimes seen in Whiteheads is reflected in one legend which tells of swarms of Whiteheads scratching out the eyes of Whaitiri
Whaitiri
In Māori mythology, Whaitiri is a female deity, a personification of thunder, and the grandmother of Tāwhaki and Karihi. Whaitiri is the granddaughter of Te Kanapu, and the great-granddaughter of Te Uira, both of whom are personified forms of lightning...
, goddess of thunder, as they pass her house, thus causing her to go blind.
Tohunga
In the culture of the Māori of New Zealand, a tohunga is an expert practitioner of any skill or art, religious or otherwise. Tohunga may include expert priests, healers, navigators, carvers, builders, teachers and advisors. The equivalent term in Hawaiian culture is kahuna...
touching the head of an infant with a live Whitehead and reciting a karakia
Karakia
Karakia are Māori incantations and prayers.Karakia are generally used to ensure a favourable outcome of important undertakings. They are also considered a formal greeting when beginning a ceremony...
(incantation) firstly to cause the mana (power and prestige) of the gods to descend on the child from the gods and secondly to open the child's eyes and ears to the knowledge of the ancestors. After the karakia was complete the bird was freed to demonstrate that the mana received would return to the gods when the child died. The Whitehead also held this role as a messenger to the gods when a new pā
Pa (Maori)
The word pā can refer to any Māori village or settlement, but in traditional use it referred to hillforts fortified with palisades and defensive terraces and also to fortified villages. They first came into being about 1450. They are located mainly in the North Island north of lake Taupo...
(fortified village) was dedicated. Once the ceremonies were complete a single Whitehead was released unharmed, the pā became free of tapu, and could be safely entered. The purpose of this rite was to bring prosperity and vitality to the pā and its people in times of war and peace. When a candidate was applying to a senior tohunga to become a matakite, or seer, he had first to catch a small bird such as a Whitehead. After more ritual the applicant was shut in a hut to sleep with the bird for a night. Next morning he opened the door and if the bird flew away of its own accord, his suitability to be a seer, as indeed the Whitehead was regarded to be, was confirmed. In the past, the appearance of a flock of whiteheads was interpreted by Māori from the upper regions of the Whanganui River
Whanganui River
The Whanganui River is a major river in the North Island of New Zealand.Known for many years as the Wanganui River, the river's name reverted to Whanganui in 1991, according with the wishes of local iwi. Part of the reason was also to avoid confusion with the Wanganui River in the South Island...
as a sign that kēhua (ghost
Ghost
In traditional belief and fiction, a ghost is the soul or spirit of a deceased person or animal that can appear, in visible form or other manifestation, to the living. Descriptions of the apparition of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to...
s) were nearby
In general New Zealand culture
19th Century forestry workers (bushmen) regarded the Whitehead as a useful forecaster of the weather: "They kept up a lively chirping some hours before an approaching storm. It was a warning which the bushmen never allowed to pass unnoticed". Colonists called this bird "Joey Whitehead" for its distinctive head colouration. This is the origin of the English-language name of the bird.Threats and Conservation
SubfossilSubfossil
Subfossil refers to remains whose fossilization process is not complete, either for lack of time or because the conditions in which they were buried were not optimal for fossilization....
remains of Whiteheads have been found throughout the North Island and the species was still very widespread when European settlement of New Zealand began in the 1840s. However, soon after, they began to decline as a result of both the widespread clearance of lowland forests for agriculture and the predations of several species of mammalian predators introduced by Europeans, including several species of rodent
Rodent
Rodentia is an order of mammals also known as rodents, characterised by two continuously growing incisors in the upper and lower jaws which must be kept short by gnawing....
s and mustelids. Such introduced species
Introduced species
An introduced species — or neozoon, alien, exotic, non-indigenous, or non-native species, or simply an introduction, is a species living outside its indigenous or native distributional range, and has arrived in an ecosystem or plant community by human activity, either deliberate or accidental...
remain a problem for many Whitehead populations today, as they both compete with them for food and prey upon the birds themselves. As a result, the species has experienced local extinctions of many of its populations throughout the North Island, particularly in its northern regions ; Whiteheads disappeared from Northland in the 1870s and from the greater Auckland
Auckland
The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...
area in the 1880s. They also disappeared from Great Barrier Island
Great Barrier Island
Great Barrier Island is a large island of New Zealand, situated to the north-east of central Auckland in the outer Hauraki Gulf. With an area of it is the fourth-largest island of New Zealand's main chain of islands, with its highest point, Mount Hobson, rising...
in the 1950s.
In an effort to restore this species to its former range, a number of conservation reintroductions have been carried out in the last twenty years . All these reintroductions were carried out as part of wider efforts towards eco-restoration at each of the native forest sites concerned; these reintroductions are summarized in the table below;
| Release location | Birds sourced from | Number of Whiteheads released | Date(s) of release | Population successfully established? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mana Island Mana Island, New Zealand Mana Island is the smaller of two islands that lie off the southwest coast of the North Island of New Zealand . The island’s name is an abbreviation of Te Mana o Kupe, "the mana of Kupe".... |
Kapiti Island Kapiti Island -External links:* , Department of Conservation* * , Nature Coast Enterprise *... |
38 | 20 July 2010 | Time will tell |
| Waitakere Ranges Waitakere Ranges The Waitakere Ranges are a chain of hills in the Auckland metropolitan area, generally running approximately 25 km from north to south, 25 km west of central Auckland, New Zealand. The maximum elevation within the ranges is 474 m... |
Tiritiri Matangi Island | 55 | August 2004 | Yes |
| Hunua Ranges Hunua Ranges The Hunua Ranges form a block of hilly country to the southeast of Auckland in New Zealand's North Island. They cover some 250 square kilometres , containing 178 km² of parkland, and rise to 688 metres at Kohukohunui... |
Tiritiri Matangi Island | 40 | April 2003 | Yes |
| Karori Wildlife Sanctuary Karori Wildlife Sanctuary Zealandia, formerly known as the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary, is a protected natural area in Wellington, New Zealand, where the biodiversity of 225 ha of forest is being restored... |
Kapiti Island | 63 | 2001–2002 | Yes |
| Tiritiri Matangi Island Tiritiri Matangi Island Tiritiri Matangi Island lies in the Hauraki Gulf of New Zealand, east of the Whangaparaoa Peninsula in the North Island and north east of Auckland. The island is an open nature reserve managed under the supervision of the Department of Conservation and is noted for its bird life, including kiwi... |
Little Barrier Island | 80 | 1989–1990 | Yes |
Due to the northern North Island local extinctions, Whiteheads were, until recently, extinct on the mainland of the North Island north of about Hamilton
Hamilton, New Zealand
Hamilton is the centre of New Zealand's fourth largest urban area, and Hamilton City is the country's fourth largest territorial authority. Hamilton is in the Waikato Region of the North Island, approximately south of Auckland...
. However, this situation has been rectified by 3 of the above releases in the Hunua Ranges, Waitakere Ranges and on Tiritiri Matangi Island. The Karori and Tiritiri Matangi reintroductions were done independently while the Hunua reintroduction was a Auckland Regional Council
Auckland Regional Council
The Auckland Regional Council was the regional council of the Auckland Region. Its predecessor the Auckland Regional Authority was formed in 1963 and became the ARC in 1989...
initiative. The Auckland Regional Council also played a part in the Waitakere Ranges "Ark in the Park" project release - the project is a joint effort being a joint effort between this local government body and the NZ conservation not for profit NGO Forest and Bird.