5:00 AM Sunday Apr 19, 2015
A group of inquisitive birds were left out of their tree after eating what is believed to be magic mushrooms at a Wellington wildlife sanctuary.
Five rare little hihi - mostly juveniles - were found "sort of paralysed or spasming" on the ground in the Zealandia Sanctuary in Karori after a ranger noticed them pecking at an unidentified fungus.
Zealandia lead ranger conservation Matu Booth said the age of the birds that ate the mushrooms may go some way towards explaining their strange behaviour.
"Maybe it was a bit of a teenage 'let's try it' mentality. Perhaps one bird was down there trying it and others were encouraged to do it, too," he said.
All the birds recovered after being placed in cardboard boxes and left to come down for a few hours.
Booth said the birds were always looking for new food sources.
"But for a species to suddenly go from nectar and insect eating to apparently eating fungi, that's a bit of a strange one. One explanation may be that there were some insects on the fungi."
The hihi, or stitchbird, is one of New Zealand's rarest birds because of its carefree, friendly nature and propensity to nest in tree holes, making it an easy target for rats and other predators.
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