Genus Mohoua

Whitehead - Formerly widespread in the North Island, the Whitehead has suffered a marked decline in the past two centuries since European colonisation and today is restricted to a fraction of its former range. It has been the subject of an active conservation campaign and has been successfully reintroduced into reserves near Auckland and Wellington respectively.

 

Pipipi - In the late 19th century when flocks of Brown Creepers were still abundant, they would occasionally descend on slaughteryards in sheep stations when food was short to feed on the meat of butchered animals.

 

Yellowhead - The Yellowhead and the Whitehead have sympatric distributions as, conversely, the latter is found only on the North island and several small islands surrounding it. Although abundant in the 1800s, particularly in beech forests from Nelson and the Marlborough Sounds to Southland and Stewart Island/Rakiura, they declined dramatically in the early 1900s due to the introduction of ship rats and mustelids. Today they have vanished from nearly 75% of their former range. In New Zealand, the Mohua has the status of a protected threatened endemic species. Conservation efforts are being made to ensure its survival and Mohua populations have been established on several predator-free offshore islands, such as Breaksea Island in Fiordland and Ulva Island.

Order : Passeriformes
Family : Acanthizidae
Genus : Mohoua