by Annie Hill for Russell Light’s October 2024 edition

While many people know about the extinction of moa, huia and laughing owls, a surprising number of are unaware of the many bird species teetering on the brink of extinction. Part of the aim of Predator Free, is to eliminate many of the dangers facing these birds, allowing for reintroduction after predators have been extirpated. The more places we reintroduce birds (and other endangered animals and plants) the more chance they have of surviving and thriving. This also aids further and faster environmental restoration through the increased seed dispersal of native plants, which in turn provide more habitat. It’s scary to think how few places are home to kākāpō – we not only have all our eggs in one basket, but all our birds, too.  

Project Island Song has reintroduced kākāriki/red-crowned parakeets, pōpokotea/whiteheads, toutouwai/North Island robin, pāteke/brown teal, and tīeke/saddlebacks to Urupukapuka and Moturua. You may one day get a chance to see kākāriki, who are strong fliers; the only way you’re likely to see the others is actually on Moturua or Urupukapuka. 

Today it is tīeke, who are star of the show. There are two species of saddleback: the North Island and the South Island, but they look identical to most people. The South Island saddleback is really struggling with only about 2,000 birds left, from a low of 36. At one time, North Island saddlebacks were also very rare, having disappeared from everywhere apart from Hen Island (off Whangarei), but they are now found on several islands and in some fenced, mainland sanctuaries. They must be one of our most successfully reintroduced birds, but their survival is completely reliant on excellent predator control. A member of the wattlebird family, along with kōkako and huia, tīeke are very high on my list of favourite birds. Noisy and gregarious, they’re hard to miss and I find them fundamentally appealing. They appear to stay in family groups, and while they communicate constantly and loudly, there seems little of the squabbling that occurs for example, with sparrows. They have a wide variety of calls, including a sweet, fluting song. If you’re interested, there’s a fine selection of recordings at nzbirdsonline.org.nz/species/north-island-saddleback. 

Tīeke are pretty unmistakeable, with their russet-coloured saddle and red beak wattles; they’re much the size of a blackbird. Wonderfully confiding, it’s not unusual for them to approach very closely. Alternatively, if they’re busy feeding, they can completely ignore people walking by.

Tīeke spend a lot of time on the ground, rummaging through the leaf litter for food. When a pair is together, they communicate in quiet tones, almost like a cat’s purr. Unusually for birds of this size, they are monogamous. I’ve often seen them apparently working with pīwakawaka-fantails, although in fact the latter are probably simply being opportunistic. They hover around the tīeke when they are feeding on a tree, which they do by probing into the bark. I suspect that while seeking larger insects, they disturb a lot of smaller ones which take flight and provide a meal for the pīwakawaka. Like so many of our birds, tīeke are not particularly great fliers – they tend to bound through the forest in a similar fashion to kōkako – so are unlikely to disperse from the islands where they have been reintroduced.  

They breed rapidly, producing up to four broods of chicks every year, breeding in every month except May, June and July. As they become more established, these reduce down to only a couple. Astonishingly, they can live for over 20 years, which makes their frequent predation even more sad. They nest in a variety of situations, including on the ground, a wonderful target for predators, especially as the fledglings tend to spend a lot of time on the ground, feeding noisily and flapping their wings. It would be lovely to think that one day, we might see them in Russell, and they are on the list of birds that Russell Landcare Trust would like to bring back to the peninsula.  However, in order for this to happen, we have to address not only mustelids and stoats, but also feral and roaming pet cats. In the meantime, I strongly recommend you visit Urupukapuka or Moturua and spend time with these delightful birds.

Photos courtesy Project Island Song.