The Huia was a striking wattlebird endemic to the North Island of New Zealand, remembered above all for the most extreme case of bill difference between the sexes known in any bird. The male carried a short, stout, slightly curved bill, while the female bore a long, thin, deeply downcurved one. The two sexes were once thought to be different species. Its glossy black plumage carried a faint green sheen, and a broad white band tipped its long tail.
Sacred to Maori, the Huia's white-tipped tail feathers were treasured as marks of rank and were exchanged as valuable items. European demand for skins and mounted specimens, combined with widespread forest clearance and introduced predators, drove the bird to extinction. The last confirmed sighting was in 1907, though unverified reports persisted for some years afterward.
The Huia was unmistakable in life, a large glossy black songbird with a pair of rounded orange wattles at the gape and a bold white tail band. The defining feature was the difference between the sexes, so pronounced that the two bill shapes served different feeding roles.
| Plumage | Glossy blue-black with a slight metallic green sheen |
| Tail | Long and rounded with a broad white terminal band |
| Wattles | Paired fleshy orange wattles at the base of the bill |
| Male bill | Short, stout and only slightly curved, used to chisel wood |
| Female bill | Long, slender and strongly downcurved, used to probe crevices |
| Size | About 45 to 50 cm including the tail |
The Huia was named in imitation of one of its calls, a smooth, distress-like whistle rendered by early observers as a drawn-out 'uia'. It gave a variety of soft flute-like notes and whistles that carried through the forest, and pairs were said to answer one another. Recordings do not exist, and descriptions rely on the accounts of those who heard it before it vanished.
The Huia was confined to the southern North Island of New Zealand, chiefly the forested ranges from around the Ruahine and Tararua mountains northward. It favored dense native lowland and montane forest with abundant decaying timber, where wood-boring grubs were plentiful. Its range contracted sharply through the nineteenth century as native forest was cleared for farming.
The Huia fed largely on the larvae of wood-boring beetles along with other insects, spiders, and some native fruits and berries. Pairs were reported to forage together in a way that combined their differing bills, the male tearing into rotten wood while the female probed her long bill into tunnels the male could not reach, though accounts of true cooperation are debated.
Huia nested in cavities and among the forks of trees, building a shallow cup of grasses, leaves, and fine twigs. The female laid a small clutch of greyish eggs marked with brown and purple speckles. Little detailed information on incubation and chick-rearing survives, since the species disappeared before modern study of its breeding could be undertaken.
- Saddleback: Another New Zealand wattlebird, black with a chestnut saddle and orange wattles
- Kokako: A surviving grey New Zealand wattlebird with blue wattles and an organ-like song
- Tui: A glossy dark New Zealand honeyeater with white throat tufts, often confused at a distance
Why is the Huia so famous?
It showed the most extreme bill difference between males and females of any known bird, with the male having a short stout bill and the female a long curved one, and its white-tipped tail feathers were prized by Maori.
When did the Huia go extinct?
The last widely accepted sighting was in 1907. Unconfirmed reports continued for a couple of decades, but the species is considered extinct.
What caused the Huia's extinction?
A combination of overhunting for feathers and museum specimens, large-scale clearance of its native forest, and predation by introduced mammals such as rats and stoats.
Did male and female Huia feed differently?
Yes. The male used its stout bill to break into rotting wood while the female used her long slender bill to probe deep tunnels for grubs, letting the pair exploit food that neither could reach alone.