The Great Hihi Sperm Race

Male stitchbird/hihi (Notiomystis cincta) from Tiritiri Matangi. Not sure how fast his sperm is.

Hello all, I can think of no post better to start off this new blog than a report on the Great Hihi Sperm Race, a fundraiser for hihi/stitchbird Notiomystis cincta conservation.  Stitchbirds are a bird species that, while once common throughout New Zealand's North Island, nearly went extinct and is still in a bad way.  By the 1880's the species was confined to Little Barrier Island/Hauturu, and even today is still limited to only seven small populations.  Species recovery is plagued by a number of issues and they desperately need funding so they have come up with a novel idea: a stitchbird sperm race.  If you go to their website you can choose one of the males from one of four study sites and place a $10 (or more) bet on him, if you think he looks like he has particularly speedy sperm.  Dr. Helen Taylor from Otago University took videos of the sperm of 128 stitchbirds in order to determine the motility (speed) of sperm from different males, and if you correctly choose the male with the fastest sperm you can win some really cool prizes relating to stitchbirds, including trips to see them in the wild!  If your male's sperm doesn't win, you still win by helping to save stitchbirds from extinction, so it's an awfully good cause and you should definitely check it out, but hurry because the race closes on the 22nd of April.

Interested in learning more about stitchbirds? Check out the following websites:

• There is more information about the species and the current conservation work being done with them on the race's website.
• DoC's website has good information as well, including some recorded song if you would like to hear what they sound like.
• New Zealand Birds Online has an excellent overview of stitchbird information as well.
• If you want to know everything there is to know about stitchbirds, the Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds will get you as close to this in one source as you will get.  It is a huge file though, so be prepared before you start to download it.