The North Island saddleback (Philesturnus rufusater ) is a forest-dwelling passerine bird, endemic to the North Island of New Zealand. It is also known in Māori as the tīeke. It was formerly considered conspecific with the South Island saddleback. The IUCN lists the species as Near Threatened, while it is listed as a "recovering" species in the New Zealand Threat Classification System.
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TerrestrialTerrestrial animals are animals that live predominantly or entirely on land (e.g., cats, ants, snails), as compared with aquatic animals, which liv...
Oviparous animals are female animals that lay their eggs, with little or no other embryonic development within the mother. This is the reproductive...
Monogamy is a form of relationship in which both the male and the female has only one partner. This pair may cohabitate in an area or territory for...
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Not a migrantAnimals that do not make seasonal movements and stay in their native home ranges all year round are called not migrants or residents.
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starts withThe 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 humans, North Island saddlebacks were widespread on mainland North Island. However, a combination of deforestation and introduced mammalian predators decimated these populations, and by the 1890s, the mainland population was eliminated, and the remaining North Island saddlebacks were only found on Hen Island, a small island off the coast of Northland.
The diet of North Island saddlebacks mostly consists of insects, berries, invertebrates, 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.
North Island saddlebacks are monogamous and usually mate for life. The breeding season can vary from year to year and location to location, though clutches typically start appearing from August to April. Fledgling saddlebacks are often seen until March and April. Saddleback nests are mostly built in tree cavities, and will lay up to four eggs per clutch.
Introduced mammalian predators, particularly brown rats, were the primary cause of the North Island saddleback's extinction from mainland New Zealand. Saddlebacks are particularly susceptible to predation because of their tendency to roost and nest in low-lying areas. Several translocations of North Island saddlebacks were made to Kapiti Island between 1981 and 1990, but the population suffered high mortality due to rat predation (rats were not eradicated until 1998). Today, North Island saddleback populations are usually found on predator-free islands and in sanctuaries protected by pest fences, affording the birds protection from these predators. North Island saddlebacks appear to be capable of co-existing with some predators such as the kiore, possibly because they have had a longer history of cohabitation than with brown and black rats. Current efforts are focused towards exterminating pests surrounding mainland sanctuaries, to allow the saddlebacks to successfully expand outside of the sanctuaries.
South Island saddlebacks have been affected by avian malaria and avian pox; this has not yet spread to the North Island saddlebacks, but there are concerns that it may do so in the future.
