New Zealand Wattlebirds: Callaeidae

The New Zealand wattlebirds' common name is based on their "wattles," little, drooping flaps of brightly colored skin that decorate their faces just behind the beaks, in pairs, on either side of the throat. Plumage (feathers) in adult wattlebirds is medium blue-gray in the kokako and near-black with red-brown areas in the saddleback. Both sexes within a species have similar colorings, and all species have brightly colored wattles. The wings are short and rounded, and all species are poor flyers, able only to glide downward from a perch, although all can run, hop and jump along the ground or tree branches and all are good tree climbers. Adult length in both sexes, from beak tip to tail tip, runs 10 to 19 inches (25 to 48 centimeters). Weight is 2.5 to 10 ounces (70 to 380 grams).