North Island Brown Kiwi
Apteryx mantelli
A large, dark grayish brown kiwi with reddish brown streaking. The only kiwi found in the wild on the mainland of New Zealand’s North Island. Found in both native and exotic forest, scrub, and neighboring farmland. More often heard than seen. Male call is a series of clear rising whistles. Female call is a harsh throaty wail. Both sexes repeat their call many times. Often heard at night foraging as it sniffs loudly, tapping the ground for invertebrates. Could be confused with Weka by voice and shape; look for the kiwi’s much longer bill and lack of tail, and listen for its multisyllabic call.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Apteryx mantelli
- Authority
- Bartlett, AD, 1852
- Order
- Apterygiformes
- Family
- Apterygidae
- Genus
- Apteryx
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Resident species
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Spotted Elachura
Elachura formosa
Tiny wrenlike skulker with a large-headed and short-tailed profile. Brown overall with galaxy-like white spotting across the body and thick brick-red barring on the wings and tail. Difficult to see; almost always detected by its song, a drawn-out series of high chinking notes; responsive to whistled imitations, but very shy regardless and only infrequently breaks cover. Typically found in hilly forests, particularly next to well-shaded small streams and other damp areas.
Long-tailed Tapaculo
Scytalopus micropterus
Small, mouse-like bird of Andean cloud forest. Often looks all gray in the dark forest understory it inhabits, but it does have rusty lower underparts with dark barring. Female may show a brown tinge on her back. Similar to other tapaculo species, and best identified by range and voice. Stays near the ground and is usually hard to see. Typical song is a “ker-chick!” repeated over and over.
Collared Sunbird
Hedydipna collaris
A tiny, short-billed sunbird with a metallic-green back and a yellow belly. The male has a green throat and a narrow purplish breast band; the female is duller, with a yellow throat and no breast band. Pairs frequent forest edge, woodland, and savanna, where they join mixed-species flocks to glean leaves and hover to catch insect prey. But they will also feed on fruit and nectar, often by piercing the base of a flower and sucking out nectar without pollinating. The “yellow-bellied” races of Variable Sunbird differ from Collared Sunbird by being larger, with a longer bill and broader purple-blue breast band.
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