Bumper hihi breeding season on pest-free Tiritiri Matangi

Monday, 11 March 2019, 10:46 pm

Press Release: Joint Press Release

HCCT / DOC Media Release

Monday March 11, 2019

A record number of hihi or stitchbird have fledged on pest-free Tiritiri Matangi Island in the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park during the latest breeding season.

Hihi breeding on Tiritiri Matangi starts in late September and runs until February.

This breeding season 252 new birds were added to the hihi population on Tiritiri Matangi.

That beats the previous record of 241 hihi fledged on the island during the 2010 / 2011 breeding season.

“Conditions have been ideal for hihi on Tiritiri Matangi this summer and breeding pairs on the island have produced a record number of new birds,” says Hihi Conservation Charitable Trust (HCCT) Conservation Officer Mhairi McCready.

“Around 150 fledgling hihi are produced in an average breeding season on Tiritiri Matangi so this is a fantastic result for this nationally vulnerable native bird.”

“It’s also a reward for the volunteers, research students and others involved in supporting the hihi during the breeding season,” says Mhairi McCready.

Read on

Sperm race funds rare New Zealand bird's survival

26 March 2018

Conservationists in New Zealand have come up with a novel way of raising money for one of the country's lesser-known endangered bird species - by holding a race to see which male stitchbird, or hihi, has the fastest sperm.

The Great Hihi Sperm Race will pit samples from birds collected from four different hihi colonies, and donors can place a ten NZ dollar (US$7.30; £5.15) bet on which of the 128 samples swims the fastest, New Zealand Herald reports.

Correct guesses win prizes donated by sponsors, and monies raised will help fund conservation work supporting remaining hihi colonies.

Read on  

Release of 44 rare birds 'historic'

One of New Zealand's rarest birds has taken to its new home at Bushy Park with a song.

Forty-four of the hihi or stitchbird - 22 male and 22 female - were released into the park yesterday morning to make it one of only three mainland hihi sanctuaries nationwide.

The birds were captured on Tiritiri Matangi island near Auckland last Saturday by a team of 13, including Department of Conservation and Massey University researchers and staff from Sydney's Taronga Zoo.

It's believed there are less than 3500 left in New Zealand.

Around 100 people turned out in the brisk morning air to see the birds released from their transport boxes, including Bushy Park Trust chairwoman Liz Tennet. She said once the birds flew into the bush several of them began to sing.


"It was awesome, and it was such a historic moment as there's only two other places where the hihi have successfully been transposed onto the mainland.

"I think them singing to us like that is a good sign."

The hihi project, which has been led by former trust chairman Allan Anderson, had been underway for about five years.

"Today has been the fruition of the process. We've installed food stations and nesting boxes for them which has been done by volunteers, and we've had to ensure they're able to enter a disease-free environment.

"We had a delay about a year because one of the birds was diagnosed with salmonella, but after some testing we established that wasn't a problem. It still set us back for a while."

Ms Tennet said many Wanganui businesses and individuals had contributed, as had a crown Prince from Abu Dhabi, but more donations would be needed.

Continued:  http://www.wanganuichronicle.co.nz/news/release-of-44-rare-birds-historic/1804367/