keeping tabs on a special titipounamu pair

Here’s a story of a pair of sneaky birds and one person (me) with a lot of patience!

Since the discovery of the titipounamu (rifleman) pair living on Te Ahumairangi Hill in August I have been regularly checking on them to monitor their safety and behaviour. Every time I visited the birds I would take note of what areas they were spending time in and check for any signs that they might be interested in breeding.

The first hint at this was watching the pair scouting for potential nesting sites, lead by the male. Male titipounamu initiate nest building and will build several nests before the female settles on one, so it was really interesting to watch him leading her to tree cavities that he thought she might approve of.

Over time I noticed that the pairs preferred foraging sites were shifting slightly. Sitting quietly I was able to notice that the birds would fall silent when they approached a certain area, something they do when approaching a nest site so they don’t broadcast their location to potential predators.

Once I had discovered this, I was able to focus my attention on surveying just that area and eventually I discovered the pair were building a nest together, right in the spot that my hunch was telling me they were. This was very exciting and a great sign that they were settled and happy in the area. I only saw them nest building on one occasion, but since they were in the latter stage of building and were adding feathers it meant that they were very keen to use that nest spot and for me it meant monitoring them would be a lot easier.

The next stages in the breeding cycle would be copulation, then egg laying. These would be near impossible to witness although one day I watched the pair chasing each other around in circles and I’m 99% sure one of them was on top of the other! I wish I was quick enough to capture that moment on camera to be sure.

My next task was to figure out a date when the pair would start laying eggs then begin to incubate them. This was no easy feat as the female of this pair is particularly sneaky and I had trouble spotting her as she entered and left the nest. I find this quite amusing as female titipounamu in general are usually less shy than the males, so she’s an interesting bird. 

Over time I figured out the best spot to watch the pair as they swapped incubation duties and after a couple of weeks they were in a really regular incubation rhythm. Then before I knew it, something amazing happened. I went to do my regular check on the pair and discovered their rhythm was completely different than two days before, my thoughts were a mixture of ‘oh wow maybe the eggs are starting to hatch’ and ‘oh no the nest has been predated’. Thankfully it was good news as I realised the pair were carrying tiny morsels of food to the nest. This could only mean one thing, their chicks have hatched!

This is incredibly exciting and groundbreaking for Wellington biodiversity. Titipounamu had been absent from the Te Ahumairangi Hill area for over 100 years, this pair have made history.

To be involved in a conservation story like this has been a real privilege. We are so lucky in Wellington to have these amazing reserves where we can immerse ourselves in nature, relax and enjoy the wildlife that surrounds us. I feel especially lucky to have been able to witness and share this special story about the brave titipounamu pair.