Black fantail sightings - Wellington

[Colin Miskelly]

Kia ora

Kate & I found a black fantail (among 9 fantails seen) in Prince of Wales Park during our lunchtime 'lockdown' walk, about 400 m from our property. Kate's cell phone image attached.

By coincidence, only this morning Te Papa colleague Jack Fisher reported a black fantail that he photographed (a distant 'record photo') at Grass St, Roseneath, Wellington on 2 May.

A Zealandia bulletin emailed on 1 May referred to a black fantail seen 'recently' within Zealandia by a staff member

Nga mihi
Colin

[Colin Miskelly]

Zealandia conservation director Danielle Shanahan has provided detail that the Zealandia black fantail sighting was on 22 April, and has added two sightings of her own from Korokoro (Lower Hutt):
Singers Rd, 15 April
Korokoro Rd, 22 April

Regards
Colin

[melissab]

Hi Colin,
I saw this Black Fantail (photo attached) regularly at Zealandia late last year, it was always in the exact same spot every time I visited for about 2 consecutive months. Then it seemed to have vanished, but I heard people mention they'd been seeing one in a different spot, so it may have moved territory.
I've seen them on Te Ahumairangi hill, and in Otari-Wilton's Bush in recent years too.
It's always nice to see a different looking bird than the usual, and I always look out for them, but haven't seen any this year.
Thanks for your info,
Melissa.

1V8A7731 black fantail zealandia 17 oct 19.JPG (888.89 KiB) Viewed 1742 times

[Finn Davey]

Both birds seem to have the same tiny spot of white in the same place.
So it's possible for them to be the same individual.

[bdarlow]

Lovely photograph, Melissa. Black fantails seem quite common around the Port Hills in Christchurch at the moment and most, if not all, have a similar white spot. Brian Darlow

[Colin Miskelly]

Lara Shepherd (another Te Papa colleague) reported a black fantail in her garden in Thane Rd, Roseneath, today (6 May). This is about 400 m from the Grass St sighting on 2 May, and these two sightings are more than 2.5 km from the Mt Cook (Prince of Wales Park) sighting on 5 May, and so at least two birds involved.

Regards
Colin