Riuwaka robin

This South Island robin (Petroica australis australis) was nice company on a late winter walk up to the Riuwaka Resurgence. The robin’s genus name, Petroica, comes from the Greek for rock (petro) and home (oikos), because the birds like to sit on rocks. Hmm, this Petroica species is a forest dweller and doesn’t show a particular preference for rocks. Moving on… australis is Latin for southern, and when I see it in a species name, I tend to interpret it as “This is the first southern hemisphere species in this genus given a scientific name. They’re going to have to be more imaginative for the rest.”