Five fruit and veg a day good for hihi too

Hihi chicks on Tiritiri Matangi Island.

The popular dietary advice to eat five or more servings of fruit and vegetables a day also applies to the endangered hihi, new research shows.

A study of hihi, or stitchbirds, on Tiritiri Matangi island in the Hauraki Gulf found adults needed to eat a variety of different plants to help protect their chicks from parasites.

A team led by New Zealander Dr John Ewen found carotenoids - which give eggs their rich gold colour - eaten by adult hihi were important for balancing the negative effects of the blood-sucking mite Ornithonyssus bursa on their chicks.

Fruit and vegetables are rich in carotenoids, so the researchers concluded it was important for hihi parents to build nests in forests with high plant biodiversity to get a healthy, balanced diet.

Once widespread in the North Island, the hihi is now endangered and confined to Hauturu (Little Barrier) Island and a few satellite populations such as Tiritiri Matangi.

The Department of Conservation wants to eventually create five self-sustaining populations of hihi.