- Conservation status
- In some trouble
These are the endemic songster of our swamps and saltmarshes. You are more likely to hear them before you see them, yet, if you are lucky enough, there may be another nearby. While living in pairs, they communicate with a high pitched "u-tick". If you click two stones together, you may see one poke its head up out of its hiding spot in curiosity.
Campaign Manager
Team Mātātā
The secretive mātātā (New Zealand fernbird) loves hanging out in wetlands around Aotearoa. Mātātā live where they hatch - unlike their glamourous neighbour and 2015 Bird of the Year winner, the kuaka (bar-tailed godwit). The kuaka may travel 11,000 kilometres from its birthplace in Alaska to New Zealand, but the mātātā flies up to only 15 metres. But that's okay, we love this bird.
Team Mātātā is championed by Simone Bahr, Dai Bindoff and Gilbert Brakey from the Te Whau Pathway Environmental Trust (which aims to connect people to wetland areas in West Auckland). #FernbirdsForever #TeamMātātā
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