South Island Tomtit with NZ Clematis

 I paired the South Island (S.I.) Tomtit with NZ clematis because not-only does the clematis grow on the forest canopies where they like to inhabit, but also, I was intrigued to note that both the South Island Tomtit and NZ Clematis have very different looks between male and female of the same species. 

NZ Clematis or Pauwhananga is a bit special, many countries have their own variety of clematis but only the New Zealand varieties are dioecious, meaning there are both male and female plants, both with different flowers: Male flowers are larger, and the female flowers have decorative fluffy seedheads while Male S.T. tomtits are larger with bright yellow chests and black feathers and the females are a light brown and smaller in size. 

Did you know that New Zealand has 5 sub-species of Tomtit, each restricted to their own specific island or island group? 

The S.I. Tomtit (Ngirungiru) are currently not a threatened due to hard work from the Department of Conservation and the predator free South Westlands project. 

This little guy is sometimes referred to as Torotoro (scout), in the myth of the great battle between land and sea birds the tomtit was chosen as torotoro by the land birds to keep watch for the movements of the enemy sea birds. It was considered to be the best option because of its keen eyesight and stealth.