Last summer I was up the hill on our property about 1km above the house, and heard the familiar regular, high-pitched begging calls of a pīpīwharauroa nestling or fledgling, so I went looking for it. I first saw a few pīwakawaka (fantails), nope, not them. Then a riroriro (grey warbler), getting closer! Then a few seconds later a pīpīwharauroa fledgling begging incessantly for dinner. Every half minute or so a bug was stuffed down its gullet by one of its riroriro foster parents. I had no camera with me so I watched for a minute or two and left.
Last week I was up the hill and heard plenty of pīpīwharauroa and riroriro, some not far from where I saw the fledgling last year. So yesterday I went up the hill again with my camera, and within half a minute there was a noisy pīpīwharauroa in the sun calling out (for a mate, I guess). It spent a bit of time preening and hopping from tree to tree making the familiar call. Could it have been mum or dad from last year? Or the grown-up fledgling? Seems likely it was one of them given how close it was to where I previously saw the fledgling. Either way, the bird would have had an 8000km round trip since last summer to the Solomon Islands / Bismarck Archipelago and back. Anyway, welcome home, little birdie!
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