Tieke - North Island saddleback - Philesturnus carunculatus rufusater
Photographed at Zealandia.
Status: endemic, range restricted. Glossy black with a distinctive orange 'saddle' on its back and fleshy wattles at base of bill. Similar size to a blackbird. Are poor flyers, mostly bound along branches and the ground like a squirrel. Have loud, staccato-like calls from which they are named by Maori (tieke - pronounced te-eh-keh). Were extinct from mainland since 1910. Were first released into Karori Sanctuary in 2002.
25 cm., males 80 g., females 70., head and body glossy black with bright chestnut saddle across back, rump and tail coverts, pendulous orange-red wattles at base of black bill. Young of North Island birds similar to adults but South Island young are plain brown.
Tieke - North Island saddleback - Philesturnus carunculatus rufusater
Photographed at Zealandia.
Status: endemic, range restricted. Glossy black with a distinctive orange 'saddle' on its back and fleshy wattles at base of bill. Similar size to a blackbird. Are poor flyers, mostly bound along branches and the ground like a squirrel. Have loud, staccato-like calls from which they are named by Maori (tieke - pronounced te-eh-keh). Were extinct from mainland since 1910. Were first released into Karori Sanctuary in 2002.
25 cm., males 80 g., females 70., head and body glossy black with bright chestnut saddle across back, rump and tail coverts, pendulous orange-red wattles at base of black bill. Young of North Island birds similar to adults but South Island young are plain brown.