A history-making pair of titipounamu have reached a teeny milestone in Wellington.
Bumblebee-sized chicks are believed to have hatched on Te Ahumairangi Hill, where in August a pair of titipounamu, or rifleman, were found for the first time in over a century.
Zealandia volunteer Melissa Boardman has been keeping tabs on the couple since they were first spotted in the bush and captured the key clue that the family has grown on her long lens camera.
“Eventually I started noticing them spending a lot more time in one certain area and they would go silent when they would approach that area which kind of meant to me that they're trying to be a bit sneaky,” she told 1News.
“It wasn't until I got home and realised there's actually food in his beak - there's only one reason they take food into the nest and that was if there's chicks and that’s if there's chicks hatching.”
The titipounamu is the smallest bird in Aotearoa, weighing just over six grams.
While the species is common in some parts of the country, in the capital titipounamu disappeared over a century ago due to human activity and predator species.
The act of food being taken to the nest by the birds on Te Ahumairangi Hill is believed to be an indicator of the first successful breeding reported in the wild in Wellington since then.
The tag around the male’s leg links the pair to Zealandia wildlife sanctuary, which is more than three kilometres from where they were found in the bush.
“They've literally climbed through peoples’ backyards, crossed roads and who knows what to get here so it's quite a feat for a tiny bird that doesn’t fly very far at all,” Boardman said.
“It's so exciting. I feel so proud of these little birds, so resilient - they overcome so much and they're out here in the wild on their own and somehow their instincts have led them to build a nest, lay eggs and now the eggs have hatched and they're feeding the chicks.”
Sixty birds were relocated from Wainuiomata Mainland Island to the eco-sanctuary in 2019 to re-establish a population in Wellington.
It’s not known how many chicks are hidden inside their spherical nest but both parents are responsible for feeding them.
It’s expected the chicks will leave the nest in several weeks’ time, Boardman said.
“They’re really loud when they’ve just come out of the nest begging for food so I’m hoping that I can spot them as soon as they fledge the nest.”
In a press release, Zealandia director Dr Danielle Shanahan said the milestone is part of the capital’s efforts to construct urban places where native wildlife will enjoy living.
‘It is the efforts of the community, our councils and many others that helps ensure Zealandia’s birds can spread beyond the fence,” she said.
Boardman hopes she will see more titipounamu in the area in the future.
“It's a hill that's really rich in bugs, insect life so there’s lots and lots of food here for them so as long as the trapping keeps up and all we need is another few birds to come from Zealandia and pair up with some of these chicks from this nest and we could establish a nice little population up on Te Ahumairangi Hill which would be amazing.”
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