features
ahuatanga
bird
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In partnership with Forest and Bird | called by Jasmine Starr
What makes a truly magnificent bird? Is it their call? Their legginess? Their behaviour? How majestic they are, how gracefully they move? Is it how long, after they sneak into Jim Henson’s studio, they could pass for a muppet? Well, Matuku-hūrepo, also known as the Australasian bittern, fulfils all of these categories. It is a majestic muppet of a creature, and yet it hasn’t won Bird of the Year even once. It’s a complete and utter travesty, and you all should be ashamed of yourselves. The matuku is a long-legged and long-necked bird, beautifully striped with various shades of brown and white to blend in with the grass and rush of their wetland habitats. They have a light stripe by their yellow eyes, giving the impression of perennially confused eyebrows. When threatened the matuku will freeze, stretching their long, long neck straight into the air, higher than you’d ever think possible. This makes the stripes running down their neck vertical, helping them blend completely into the rushes and sedge. A matuku’s diet consists mainly of fish, but they also feed on various insects, spiders, molluscs, worms, crayfish, and even frogs, lizards, and eels. Matuku live in densely vegetated freshwater wetlands of southern Australia, Tasmania, New Caledonia, and Aotearoa. All the bird guides say you can find them in Northland, Waikato, the east coast of the North
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Island, and the west coast of the South Island, but they’re known for their mysterious nature, brilliant at camouflage and living in impenetrable wetland, so good luck trying to spot one. You may, however, be able to hear their call—a deep, thrumming tone that sounds somewhere between a human humming and a vibrating cell phone. Each individual bird has its own pattern of calls, between one and ten calls per sequence, although most birds average at around three. In South-Eastern Australian Aboriginal mythology, unfamiliar calls were often attributed to the mysterious and dangerous swamp-dwelling bunyip—often our little muppet matuku. During mating season, the deep, vibrating ‘booms’ of the matuku are something to behold. Around 20% of the total population resides in Whangamarino wetlands in the Waikato, a wildlife refuge run by the Department of Conservation. But 20% of our country’s matuku population is, sadly, still not a large number of birds. Their species is critically endangered. There are less than 1000 total matuku remaining in Aotearoa, and around the same number in Australia. The current estimated population in New Caledonia is less than 50 birds. The presence of matuku is a great indicator of freshwater wetland health, as they cannot live in a habitat without sufficient biodiversity, thick native vegetation, and good water quality. Matuku love a good, dense wetland, filtered and shaded by native plants with plenty of room for foraging and nesting. The health, size, and native plants of these habitats