Grey warbler

You are more likely to hear than see a grey warbler, which has a distinctive trilling call. This tiny bird, which weighs just 6 grams, typically hunts for insects in the canopies of trees and shrubs.

Scientific name: Gerygone igata
Other names: gray warbler, grey gerygone, hōrirerire, kai ngata, New Zealand gerygone, rainbird, riroriro, teetotum, whiringa-ā-tau

New Zealand Status: Native (Endemic)
Conservation Status: Not threatened

Where they feed: Shrubs, trees and in the air.
What they eat: Invertebrates, seeds and fruit

Garden types

Grey warblers are found in up to a quarter of surveyed gardens, and are more likely to be recorded in rural than urban gardens. Fewer grey warblers are recorded in gardens where people feed birds.

Garden location

Grey warblers are found in gardens nationwide but only in very low numbers in the eastern and southern regions of the South Island. Highest numbers of this species are seen in gardens in the Northland, Auckland and West Coast regions.