A New Year & New Bird Find - "The Matata"

Walking along the estuary river walk right next to the path we heard a bird song that we’d never heard before, and there it was on to of the native bush the little Matata - a bird neither of of us knew existed. It is only found in New Zealand and like many native birds it isn’t very good at flying. They never needed to be because for thousands and thousands of years the birds of Aotearoa had no land mammals to threaten them and no humans either. Sadly, many have become extinct as stoats, rats, hedgehogs and possums threaten their existence.

So it was great at the first day of a New Year to see a new bird - this not so common Matata - also known as the Fernbird because of its fern like long tail. Here’s a photo I took when he was facing me front shot of the Matata