page_title: New Zealand rock wren
section_title: Distribution and habitat
hierarchical_section_title: New Zealand rock wren / Distribution and habitat
caption_attribution_description: New Zealand Rockwren&#160; (Xenicus gilviventris, cat.) English: Rock Wren (Xenicus gilviventris) nest from Walter Buller's A History of the Birds of New Zealand. 2nd ed. (London, 1888). page 250.
context_page_description: The New Zealand rock wren is a small New Zealand wren endemic to the South Island of New Zealand. Its Māori names include pīwauwau, mātuitui, and tuke. Outside New Zealand it is sometimes known as the rockwren or South Island wren to distinguish it from the unrelated rock wren of North America.
  The rock wren is currently restricted to alpine and subalpine areas of the South Island; subfossil bones show it once lived in the North Island as well. It is a poor flier and highly terrestrial, feeding in low scrub, open scree, and rockfalls. The rock wren and rifleman are the only two surviving New Zealand wrens; the rock wren's closest relative was the now-extinct bushwren. Its numbers are declining due to predation by introduced mammals.
context_section_description: This species is currently confined to alpine and subalpine zones (900–2500 m altitude) of the Southern Alps, the Tasman Mountains of Northwest Nelson, and the Victoria Range of Westland, all in the South Island; it is New Zealand's only truly alpine bird. Subfossil remains suggest before Polynesian settlement it was also found in lowland forest and in the North Island. Its current alpine distribution is a habitat where few rodents can survive, full of sheltering rocks and dense vegetation.
  Their preferred habitat is close to the treeline, amongst rockfalls, scree, fellfield, and low scrub. Rock wrens, unlike many alpine birds, do not migrate to lower elevations in winter; instead, they seem to shelter and forage in rockfalls beneath the snow layer.
caption: Rock wren nest
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