North Island (south of Mt Pirongia and Te Aroha, including Mt Egmont and axial mountain system from East Cape south to Cook Strait), Little Barrier Island, Arid Island and Kapiti Island, New Zealand.
Rarity Status
Currently this species is not classified as a rarity in this country OR information has not been updated.
Population
Estimated population is unknown (2010).
Habits
In summer, small family parties and flocks of up to 10. In fall, loose flocks of up to 70 observed foraging together, often assocaiting with other species including silvereyes, fantails and warblers. In spring, pairs and small breeding groups.
Food
Seeds, fruit, insects. Most insects gleaned from from leaves, twigs and branches.
Whitehead (Mohoua albicilla) [XC526621]
by id from Mangakino, Taupo District, Waikato, New Zealand (call)
Whitehead (Mohoua albicilla) [XC481078]
by from Tongariro National Park, Ruapehu District, Manawatu-Wanganui, New Zealand (call)
Nest
A compact cup composed of fine dry leaves, twigs, leaf skeletons, small rootlets, thin strips of bark, lichen and moss, bound together with spiders web, lined with feathers, hair, wool, punga scales, bark and moss, located in the center or tops of low-growing, small leaved trees or shrubs, in a fork of a branch of hanging rom light twigs or branches, between 1 - 4 m above the ground.
Eggs (Guide)
2 - 4; white to deep pink, minutely speckled or marbled with yellowish to reddish brown, more dense toward the largr end; round-oval. Incubation: about 17 days; mainly by female.
Subspecies
No subspecies.
Sometimes treated as conspecific with Yellowhead (Mohoua ochrocephala).
BirdLife International Species Factsheet