Two 1930s records of saddlebacks (tīeke) from the Raukūmara Range, East Cape

Evidence for North Island saddlebacks (tīeke, Philesturnus rufusater) persisting on the North Island mainland until at least 1935 is presented. A sighting of two birds along the Kopuapounamu River, Raukūmara Range, by Charles Fleming and Dick Metcalfe on 10 Feb 1935 was referred to by Fleming in ‘Summarised reports’ published in Notornis in 1953. This record was the basis for Reginald Oliver stating that North Island saddlebacks still occurred in the Raukūmara Range in the second edition of New Zealand birds (published in 1955). Naturalist trampers Geoffry Wilson and Norman Elder reported seeing a saddleback between the Raukokere and Kereu Rivers (also in the Raukūmara Range, but 20 km to the west) in late December 1931 or early January 1932. Their sighting was referred to in articles published in at least three North Island newspapers in January 1932. There is no evidence that Fleming or Oliver were aware of this earlier possible record.