Song of shining cuckoo heralds spring in the Far North

Shining cuckoos turn up at Dianne Connolly’s place near Taipa every year to herald spring. This one needed to be rescued after it flew into her window in 2013, sparking the interest of her cat Kitty Rascal

Looking at the weather these last two weeks you would be convinced spring has been here for all that time, but in the Far North, it’s not officially spring until the shining cuckoo has been heard.

And while the migrant bird - deemed the harbinger of spring - is normally first heard in the first week of September (and sometimes the last week of August), the first report of the bird’s call has come from Dianne Connolly, who lives near Taipa.

Each year, the bird’s unique whistle is the harbinger of spring and the start of the warmer months in the Far North.

The shining cuckoo, otherwise known as the shining bronze cuckoo in Australia or pipiwharauroa in Māori, is a New Zealand native bird that migrates to Aotearoa in summer.

The cuckoo can be found throughout the country and can be identified by its iridescent, dark-green wings and white and dark green-striped chest. Due to its small size and cryptically coloured appearance, it is more often heard than seen.

Connolly, who has lived in the same spot for 36 years, said the first one she heard this season was at 6.35am on Thursday as she was outside having her morning coffee.

A shining cuckoo, or pipiwharauroa, catches its breath after flying into the window of Dianne Connolly’s Taipa home, before flying off.

“It was in trees just outside my house near Taipa. This is a whole three weeks later than the date I first heard it for last year. I haven’t heard of any other reportings so far,” she said.

Connolly said she often only hears the bird sing once or twice that first morning they turn up and can then go several weeks without hearing them. They generally stay for around five months to breed.

She said as well as hearing them, she had also had a few up-close encounters, with several shining cuckoos having been stunned by flying into her windows.

"Back in 2013 I heard a loud bang, and the cat going off, and went out to find that one had hit the window and was winded. I told the cat she couldn’t have it, but wondered what I would do with it.

"I held it in my hands for about 45 minutes then it took a big breath and seemed to be getting its strength back. Then just as I was wondering what to do next and thinking about putting it on a branch or post a gust of wind came, it opened its wings to catch it and just flew off."

She has rescued several more in similar circumstances since and is impressed by the colourful bird’s shiny green plumage.

■ About the bird:

The shining cuckoo (shining bronze-cuckoo in Australia) is a summer migrant to New Zealand. It is common throughout New Zealand but it is small and cryptically-coloured and so is more often heard than seen. It has a distinctive whistling call. Two intriguing aspects of its life history are its brood-parasitic habits - laying their eggs singly in nests of grey warblers - and the long annual trans-oceanic migration. The New Zealand subspecies breeds only in New Zealand, including the Chatham Islands.

It is iridescent dark green above, and white below with dark green transverse bands.

The main call is a loud upwardly-slurred whistle repeated several times; the sequence usually ends with a downwardly-slurred whistle.