Honeyeaters (Meliphagidae)
New Zealand Bellbird (Anthornis melanura) - HBW 13, p. 587
French:
Méliphage carillonneur
German: Maori-Glockenhonigfresser
Spanish: Mielero Maorí
Other common names: The Bellbird, New Zealand Bell; Three Kings
Bellbird (obscura); Chatham (Island) Bellbird (melanocephala)
Taxonomy: Certhia
melanura Sparrman, 1786, Promontorium Bonae Spei (= foothills
Cape of Good Hope); error = Queen Charlotte Sound, New Zealand.
Distinctive
Chatham Is race melanocephala (large, dark, yellow-eyed),
sometimes treated as a separate species, is extinct. Nominate race
exhibits slight clinal variation, becoming darker from N to S.
Proposed races dumerilii (from Bay of Islands, on North I, in
New Zealand) and incoronata (Auckland Is) considered
inseparable from nominate. Three extant subspecies recognized.
Subspecies and Distribution:
- melanura (Sparrman, 1786) - New Zealand, including many offshore islands; Auckland Is.
- obscura Falla, 1948 - Three Kings Is, NW of N North I (New Zealand).
- oneho Bartle & Sagar, 1987 - Poor Knights Is, E of N North I.
- Least Concern Enlarge map
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Single bird perched on branch and preening using bill and feet. Locality Ulva Island, Stewart Island, New Zealand (ssp melanura)
Neil Robertson 16 May 2006 1 year ago 41 sec 4.5 -
A bird feeding on fungus nectar on the bark of a tree Locality Ulva Island, Stewart Island, New Zealand (ssp melanura)
Brooke Clibbon 21 November 2005 5 years ago 12 sec 4.1 -
An adult bathing in a small fresh water hole Locality Motuara Island, Queen Charlotte Sound, South Island, New Zealand (ssp melanura)
Brooke Clibbon 4 November 2005 5 years ago 23 sec 4 -
A bird on a branch, singing and rubbing its bill Locality Oban, Stewart Island, New Zealand (ssp melanura)
Brooke Clibbon 21 November 2005 5 years ago 28 sec 3.9 -
An adult feeding on flax flowers, with pollen colour on its head Locality Motuara Island, Queen Charlotte Sound, South Island, New Zealand (ssp melanura)
Brooke Clibbon 4 November 2005 5 years ago 18 sec 3.7
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A fledgling
Locality Ulva Island, Stewart Island, New Zealand
Rémi Bigonneau 6 December 2011 28 weeks ago 4.2 -
Close up of a male
Locality Tiritiri Matangi Island, Hauraki Gulf, North Island, New Zealand
Rémi Bigonneau 21 March 2010 28 weeks ago 3.9 -
An adult
Locality Ulva Island, Stewart Island, New Zealand
Rémi Bigonneau 11 November 2010 28 weeks ago 3.7 -
Adult feeding a fledgling
Locality Ulva Island, Stewart Island, New Zealand
Rémi Bigonneau 6 December 2010 28 weeks ago 3.7 -
Perched in a bush
Locality Te Anau, South Island, New Zealand
Peter Strauss 1 February 2010 1 year ago 3.7 -
An adult and a fledgling
Locality Ulva Island, Stewart Island, New Zealand
Rémi Bigonneau 6 December 2010 28 weeks ago 3.5
- No sound recordings available yet
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