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The Fantail (Piwakawaka)
The fantail is a native bird that is commonly found in bush, farmland and in gardens in towns. It mainly eats flying insects but also eats caterpillars and spiders. Fantails are very agile in the air and seldom feed on the ground. They build their nests in trees. The nests are often hanging from supporting twigs, sometimes over water. The fantail starts breeding in its first year of life and usually lays 2 to 5 eggs at a time. It takes about 14 days for the eggs to hatch and the babies stay in the nest for about 13 days. A pair of fantails can raise up to five families in a summer. In the Chatham Islands, though, where the summers are shorter it only raises up to 2 families.
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The Black Robin
In 1976 there were only 7 black robins in the whole world. It was one of the world’s rarest birds. The black robin is slightly larger than a fantail. Black robins prefer to build their nests in hollow trees or in stumps on the ground. They do not start breeding before they are two years old and usually stay with the same mate for life. They lay between one and three eggs each season. The eggs take about 18 days to hatch and the babies stay in the nest for about 22 days. If the first brood does not survive black robins will sometimes have a successful second brood. The breeding season is very short. Black robins eat insects buried in forest leaf litter and hunt by making frequent short flights between low perches, and onto the ground.
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