Petroica macrocephala
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days >90%
The tomtit (Petroica macrocephala) is a small passerine bird in the family Petroicidae, the Australasian robins. It is endemic to the islands of New Zealand, ranging across the main islands as well as several of the outlying islands. In the Māori language, the North Island tomtit is known as miromiro and the South Island tomtit is known as ngirungiru. This bird has several other Māori and English names as well. There are several subspecies showing considerable variation in plumage and size. The species is not threatened and has adapted to the changes made to New Zealand's biodiversity.
The tomtit was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with the tits in the genus Parus and coined the binomial name Parus macrocephalus. Gmelin based his account on the "great-headed titmouse" that had been described and illustrated in 1783 by the English ornithologist John Latham in his book A General Synopsis of Birds. The naturalist Joseph Banks had provided Latham with either a specimen or a painting of the tomtit. The bird was seen at Queen Charlotte Sound on the... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arthur's Pass National Park | 🇳🇿 New Zealand | |
| 2 | Aoraki Mount Cook National Park | 🇳🇿 New Zealand | |
| 3 | Fiordland National Park | 🇳🇿 New Zealand | |
| 4 | Rakiura National Park | 🇳🇿 New Zealand | |
| 5 | Egmont National Park | 🇳🇿 New Zealand | |
| 6 | Abel Tasman National Park | 🇳🇿 New Zealand |
Very likely
About 70% of wildlife watchers report a Miromiro sighting in Aoraki Mount Cook National Park on a given day, based on 329 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 7th most-seen of the 36 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
February, April and October
In those months about 80% of wildlife watchers report a Miromiro in Aoraki Mount Cook National Park on a given day, against about 50% in July and August, the lowest months.
Between 11 am and 2 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Miromiro sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
2nd of 6
Of the 6 parks where we can rate Miromiro sightings, Aoraki Mount Cook National Park ranks 2nd at about 70%. The best odds are in Arthur's Pass National Park (New Zealand, about 90%). All parks ranked.
Same order: Passeriformes
The closest relatives of the Miromiro that you can see in Aoraki Mount Cook National Park (order Passeriformes, Perching Birds) are Chaffinch (about 90%), Eurasian Blackbird (about 90%) and Grey Warbler (about 80%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Miromiro is recorded against all the birds logged in Aoraki Mount Cook National Park (329 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
