Special fact! The fantail or pīwakawaka is best known for its friendly ‘cheet cheet’ call and energetic flying antics. The fantail is one of New Zealand’s best known birds, with its distinctive fanned tail and loud song, and particularly because it often approaches within a metre or two of people.
Features: The New Zealand fantail occurs in two colour morphs: pied and black. The adult pied fantail has a greyish head, prominent white eyebrows, brown back and rump, cinnamon breast and belly, white and black bands across the upper breast, and a long black and white tail. Black fantails are mainly black, with black-brown over the rump, belly and flight feathers, and occasionally have a white spot over each ear.
Feeding: Fantails mainly eat small invertebrates, such as moths, flies, beetles and spiders.
2-5 eggs: The timing of fantail breeding varies with location and weather conditions. Two to five eggs are laid, with both adults taking turns on the nest through the approximately 14-day incubation period
Nest: The nest is constructed of fine materials (mosses, dried rotten wood fibres, hair, dried grasses, fern scales) tightly woven with cobwebs.
Threats: Introduced predators, habitat loss
Status: Endemic
At risk: Not Threatened
Where: Its wide distribution and habitat preferences, including frequenting well-treed urban parks and gardens, means that most people encounter fantails occasionally.
Species information: http://nzbirdsonline.org.nz/species/new-zealand-fantail