New Zealand Robin
From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.
| New Zealand Robin Conservation status: See text | ||||||||||||||
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 New Zealand Robin (South Island) | ||||||||||||||
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| Petroica australis Sparrman, 1788 |
The New Zealand Robin or Toutouwai (Petroica australis) is a sparrow-sized bird found only in the main islands of New Zealand. In New Zealand it has the status of a protected endemic species.
The male's plumage is a dark slate grey whereas the female is dark grey-brown. On both birds the throat and belly are considerably lighter, in the male a cream colour. It is this bright breast that gave the birds their name, in comparison with the bright breast of the European Robin. The birds are sparsely distributed through the main islands of New Zealand, although the distribution is not continuous, and this has led to several subspecies, the North Island Robin (P. a. longipes), the South Island Robin (P. a. australis), and the Stewart Island Robin (P. a. rakiura). The birds generally inhabit the forest fringe, and can often be found in the green belts of towns and cities.
The bird is closely related to the much rarer Black Robin (Petroica traversi) of the Chatham Islands.
