Tomtit, Mt Kaukau, Wellington

[Nikki McArthur]

Hi all,

Ian Flux has reported coming across a male tomtit while carrying out five-minute bird counts on Mt Kaukau on Friday. Tomtits are fairly few and far between in Wellington City & surrounds. R.H.D Stidolph records that they were present in Otari-Wilton Bush and Khandallah Park in the early 1920s. There are also several published records in the early 2000's from Zealandia, Polhill Reserve and Otari-Wilton Bush (Miskelly et al, 2005), and Peter Hodge encountered one on Tinakori Hill on 16th January, 2015.

Cheers,
Nikki

[Milan]

I believe I've seen male and female birds over the last 2 weeks near Mount Crawford Prison on the Miramar Peninsula.

Will report back with photos, fingers crossed.

[Nikki McArthur]

I'd be really interested to see those photos Milan, if you're successful. Last November Samantha Ray and I carried out 84 five-minute bird counts in Miramar Peninsula, to get a baseline measure of the abundance, diversity and distribution of birds on the Peninsula ahead of a possible predator eradication by Wellington City Council. We didn't pick up tomtits anywhere on the peninsula, though that wouldn't be surprising if only a few individuals were present - 5-min bird counts aren't very good a picking us scarce or inconspicuous species. So it would be very interesting if the birds you've seen did turn out to be tomtits, and would add a new bird species to our list of birds that we know exist on the peninsula.

[Milan]

Hi Nikki, I've just captured a short video on my phone of a female tomtit just outside the Mount Crawford Prison. Apparently they remain on their territories throughout the year, so undoubtedly I'll have the chance to capture more photos of this little bird.
Would you like to see the video?

[ashercook]

I'd be very interested in seeing the video. I went up for a brief look this evening but was unsuccessful. Would you be able to give me the exact location you saw the bird? I'd be keen to go back and have another look.

[ledzep]

I had a look round the area today, not an area I have explored much before. Plenty of Chaffinches, and Goldfinches feeding juveniles. 1 Kingfisher. Nice garden area adjacent to the prison, and generally the area could be good habitat for Tomtit, but I didn't see any.