All black pıwakawaka packed in a huddle
As the temperatures drop, the normally active pıwakawaka are getting creative.
Sixteen of the New Zealand fantails were captured by Hamish Anderson perching on a jasmine vine in a Mosgiel shed.
They group included a rare all-black variant of the species. The Department of Conservation estimates the black variant of pıwakawaka is extremely rare in the North Island, and makes up only 5 per cent of fantails in the South Island.
Mosgiel livestock vet Victoria Chapman told the Otago Daily Times the birds began roosting at dusk, then flew off at dawn.
‘I’m sure it’s warmer in the shed – it’s warmer than being out in the trees,’’ she told the paper.
In 2015, Dunedin real estate agent Jim Columb captured a video of pı¯wakawaka huddling together on an electrical cord.
Last year, Abbie Eaton captured a photo of more than 30 fantails huddling for warmth inside in a farm workshop at Haldon Station in the Mackenzie Country.
Eaton said the native birds were drawn into the building by residual heat from a woodburner, while temperatures dropped as low as minus 8 degrees Celsius outside.
Te Papa curator and bird expert Dr Colin Miskelly told Stuff in 2011 that many fantails died in cold conditions because of the lack of flying insects to feed on.
‘‘The reality is that severe weather conditions cause huge declines in fantail populations,’’ he said.
‘‘It sometimes takes them several years to recover, although they do recover because they can have large broods and breed multiple times a year.’’