Tomtit

Petroica macrocephala macrocephala

The Tomtit ( Petroica macrocephala ) is a New Zealand songbird of the family snap.

Features

The 13 cm long and 11 g heavy tomtit is a bird with a large head and short tail. The male is dark, colored white on the head and back at the bottom. Throat and breast are yellowish, appears in the black wings, a white wing binding. The female is colored pale brown at the top and at the bottom.

The individual subspecies see partly from very different, so is the subspecies Petroica macrocephala dannefaerdi that occurs on the snare Islands, completely black. (See :)

Occurrence

This state bird inhabits forests and open woodlands in New Zealand.

Behavior

The Tomtit shows little fear of humans and behaves curious to aggressive.

The diet consists primarily of invertebrates, which he studied on trees or on the ground. In autumn and winter it will also eat small fruits.

Reproduction

The Tomtit usually remains for a lifetime with his partner together in the same area. During the breeding season from August to January, the female builds a nest in a tree hollow shapeless, on a broken branch or between thick creepers. It consists of twigs, pieces of bark, feathers and moss and is held together with cobwebs. During the incubation of three to five eggs, the female is fed by the male. In a season is bred twice as many.