Callaeidae – Kokako & Saddlebacks

The small bird family Callaeidae is endemic to New Zealand. It contains three genera, with five species in the family. One, the huia, became extiis also presumed extinct.

The Callaeidae are often known as wattlebirds or wattled crows, a term that leads to confusion, as there are other, unrelated species with this same name, notably the large Australian wattlebirds of the family Meliphagidae, which are honeyeaters. For this reason, ‘New Zealand Wattlebirds’ is the informal name for this family used by the scientific community. Equally confusingly, they are also sometimes known as wattled crows, even though they are not corvids and are only distantly related to crows.

They are ground-dwelling passerines, 26–38 cm in length. They inhabit dense forests, where they feed on insects. They have strong legs and featherless wattles behind the bill. Their wings are rounded and unusually weak, giving them very limited powers of flight. They are monogamous and maintain permanent territories.

North Island Saddleback Philesturnus rufusater -©Geoff McKay CCO 1.0 via Wikimedia Commons

This female Tieke (Saddleback) was one of three Tieke busily foraging on the forest floor and photographed when it briefly jumped onto this supplejack vine. Very low light conditions… North Island saddlebacks have striking black plumage, a rufous chestnut saddle across their back, bright reddish-orange wattles (that get larger with age) and a thin pale yellow band on the leading edge of the saddle. Sexes are alike, although males usually have larger wattles than females of the same age. Juveniles are similar but their plumage lacks the sheen of adults, with dusty brown tips on black body feathers, the gold band is absent, and they have small wattles. Captured at Bushy Park Whanganui

These birds seem to be remnants of an early expansion of passerines to New Zealand. They have no close relatives except the Stitchbird, and their more distant relationships are likewise still unknown.

A molecular study of the nuclear RAG-1 and c-mos genes of the three species within the family proved inconclusive, the data providing most support for either a basally diverging kokako or huia.