#callaeidae

[best-bird-tournament]

Callaeidae family

Which is the best bird?

North Island kōkako

North Island saddleback

South Island saddleback

Voting ended onDec 9, 2025

This family contains just three eligible species in two genera (Callaeas and Philesturnus).

[podartists]

Glaucopis wilsoni and Glaucopis cinerea (1873) | John Gerrard Keulemans

[drhoz]

#2534 - Heteralocha acutirostris - Huia

The Moa, unfortunately, wasn't the only extinct bird on display at the museums we visited. Aotearoa has suffered an appalling rate of extinctions since the arrival of humans, and the rate only accelerated after the introduction of rats, cats, dogs, stoats, brushtail possums, and other predators.

One loss was New Zealand's largest wattlebird - the last credible sighting of one was a century ago. It was considered sacred by the Māori, with the skins and feathers worn only by those of the highest status, and traded long distances across the islands. Ornithologists also considered it remarkable, on account of the sexual dimorphsm in the beaks. The male used its shorter beak to pry apart rotten wood, and the female probed deeper.

The bird lived only in forests of the North Island - land clearing, overhunting, and rats rapidly reduced their numbers. Their extinction rapidly loomed after the arrival of Europeans, who assumed that anything not native to the British isles was inferior anyway, and exacerbated after the future George V and Queen Mary visited New Zealand in 1901. At an official Māori welcome in Rotorua, a guide took a huia tail feather from her hair and placed it in the band of the Duke's hat as a token of respect, and many fuckwits in both countries wanted to emulate the fashion.

The handful of attempts to save the bird did not go well - The Kapiti Island attempt is documented as being particularly bad. A live pair destined to be transferred to the island in 1893 was instead appropriated by Sir Walter Buller, who took them back to England as a present for Lord Rothschild, along with the last known pair of laughing owls.

 In May 2024 a single huia feather sold at auction in Auckland for NZ$46,521.50, making it the most expensive feather ever sold in the world. The previous record in 2010 was another huia feather.

Whanganui Regional Museum, New Zealand

[hello-birdies]

Philesturnus carunculatus by Jake Osborne

[hello-birdies]

Callaeas wilsoni by Jake Osborne

[hello-birdies]

Philesturnus rufusater by Janice McKenna

[drhoz]

#2538 - Callaeas wilsoni - Kōkako

One of two species of Callaeas, the type genus for the New Zealand wattlebirds, the Callaeidae. unfortunately, they're also the only remaining species in the genus, since the South Island kōkako (Callaeas cinereus) is probably extinct, and this one pretty damn close to following it. The other three Callaeids being two species of tieke (saddleback) and the extinct huia.

Previously widespread, kōkako populations throughout New Zealand were decimated by possums, stoats, cats and rats.

The genus Callaeas was introduced in 1788 by the German naturalist Johann Reinhold Forster. The genus name is derived from the Ancient Greek word kallaia for a cock's wattles.

The family is believed to be a remnant of an early expansion of passerines into New Zealand, and have no close relatives apart from the stitchbird or hihi (Notiomystis cincta), and their taxonomic relationships to other birds remain to be determined. Assuming any of them survive long enough to answer the question.

Their diet includes leaves, fern fronds, flowers, fruit and invertebrates, and they are poor fliers. The kōkako has a clear, organ-like song, audible for kilometres - breeding pairs sing together in a bell-like duet for up to an hour in the early morning.

In one notable Māori myth, a kōkako gave Māui water as he fought the sun by filling its wattles with water and offering it to quench his thirst. Māui rewarded kōkako for its kindness by stretching its legs until they were lean, long and strong, so that kōkako could easily leap through the forest to find food.

The kōkako appears on the reverse side of the New Zealand $50 note

Whanganui Regional Museum, New Zealand.

[fullfrontalbirds]

North Island Saddleback (Philesturnus rufusater)

© Aaron Skelton