Bellbird

Maori Name: Korimako

Anthornis melanura

Maori name Korimako or Makomako

                                                                 

Found only in NZ, the bellbird takes its name from the clear bell-like notes of its song, which it learns to sing by copying the songs of its parents or other adults of the same sex. 

 

Bellbirds are strictly monogamous and pairs remain together, maintaining the same breeding territory, for several years.  They lay in September to January, during which they commonly raise two broods.  The nest is built mainly by the female, usually near a flowering tree and anywhere from ground level to 15 m high. Typically the nest is hidden in or below an entanglement of vine or creeper, or among the dead or growing fronds of a tree fern.  It is loosely constructed of twigs and fern fibre and lined with moss, fine grass or more often, feathers or wool.  Three or four eggs are laid at daily intervals and incubated by the female.  She may be fed by the male but regularly leaves the nest to feed. Incubation and fledging both take about 14 days.  The chicks are fed mostly by the female.  On leaving the nest the young are fed by their parents for another 10 to 14 days while learning to feed themselves. 

 

The bellbird is a resolute defender of its nest and the female will physically attack any intruder near her eggs or young.  She will also fall to the ground and flap away through the undergrowth to distract a predator.  The male will appear in response to his mate’s alarm call and sings near the nest.

 

The male bellbird is an olive-green with a purple iridescence on the forehead and crown.  He has dark bluish-black wings with yellow at the bend of the folded wing.  The tail is also bluish-black and slightly forked. The female is less conspicuous tending to olive-brown with a whitish stripe under the eye from gape.  Her tail is brownish-black and slightly forked.

As bellbirds are both nectar-feeding and frugivorous, they play an important role in the pollination of many native New Zealand plant species - especially the New Zealand mistletoes and tree fuchsia.

 

The bellbird is common in many parts of the south island, and in some forested parts and offshore islands of the North Island.  In the South Island, they have expanded into settled districts and large exotic plantations and are common in orchards, gardens, parks and farm shelterbelts, and on river margins.

The bellbird declined rapidly from Northland and around Auckland in the 1860s probably because of disease as no other populations of bellbird seemed to be affected, and elsewhere they adapted to the presence of humans and introduced mammals well.  They are now a protected species.