North Island Saddleback

The plumage of North Island saddlebacks is mostly black apart from the saddle, rump, and tail coverts, which are chestnut. North Island saddlebacks are distinguished from South Island saddlebacks by a faint yellow lining on the superior edge of the saddle. The black bill is starling-like, with orange-red wattles hanging from its base. North Island saddlebacks have an average length of 25 cm. Males tend to be heavier (80 g) than females (69 g), and possess longer bills and larger wattles. North Island saddlebacks produce calls described as "cheet, te-te-te-te" or "ti-e-ke-ke-ke-ke". The Māori name for the bird, tīeke, is derived from the sound of this call.

North Island saddlebacks naturally occupy lowland broadleaf and coastal evergreen forests, though as a result of translocations, they are now also found in various other forest environments. Before the arrival of Europeans and the mammalian predators they introduced, North Island saddlebacks were widespread on the North Island mainland and offshore islands. A combination of deforestation and introduced predators – first brown rats and feral cats, then also black rats and mustelids – decimated these populations, and by the 1890s, the mainland population was eliminated, and the only remaining North Island saddlebacks were those on Hen Island, a small island off the coast of Northland.

Translocations. Translocation efforts by the New Zealand Wildlife Service began in 1964, with birds being transported to nearby Whatupuke Island (Middle Chicken Island). …

The diet of North Island saddlebacks mostly consists of insects and other invertebrates, berries, and nectar. Their bill allows them to force open dead wood to expose insects such as grubs. In forests, saddlebacks forage at all heights, but tend to spend most of the time on the forest floor browsing in leaf litter.