Yellowhead
Mohoua ochrocephala (Gmelin, 1789)
The yellowhead (Mohoua ochrocephala) is a species in the family Mohouidae, order Passeriformes. Recorded adults weigh 26 g to 29.5 g. Source checklists list it for 1 country: Australia. Its IUCN Red List status is Near Threatened.
Quick facts about the yellowhead
- Weight
- 26 g – 29.5 gsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Diet
- Invertivoresrc for Diet
- Longest recorded lifespan
- 16 years
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- forestsrc for Habitat
- Young per litter or clutch
- 3src for Young per litter or clutch
- Lifestyle
- Perchingsrc for Lifestyle
- Migration
- Sedentarysrc for Migration
- Conservation status
- Near Threatened (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- 1 countrysrc for Countries on record
Where does the yellowhead live?
Countries where Catalogue of Life checklists list the species. Many checklists carry no country data, so the list is often incomplete. It is not a range map.
The yellowhead is listed for 1 country.
- Listed
- Not listed
The same countries as a list
Listed by: ITIS (scope: global), through the Catalogue of Life.
What is the yellowhead?
The yellowhead or mohua (Mohoua ochrocephala) is a small insectivorous passerine bird endemic to the South Island of New Zealand. Once a common forest bird, its numbers declined drastically after the introduction of rats and stoats, and its IUCN conservation status is now near threatened.
From the Wikipedia article “Yellowhead (bird)” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Yellowhead_%28bird%29&oldid=1381383154), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the yellowhead endangered?
The yellowhead is listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List: it is close to qualifying as threatened.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Near Threatened species.
How is the yellowhead classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderPasseriformes
- familyMohouidae
- genusMohoua
- SpeciesMohoua ochrocephala (Gmelin, 1789)
Synonyms Certhia heteroclites, Mohoua ochrocephala ochrocephala, Muscicapa chloris chloris, Muscicapa ochrocephala, Orthonyx heteroclites
Other names and names in other languages (36)
- MohuaEnglish
- Mōhua (yellowhead)English
- Yellowhead (bird)English
- moua dauradaCatalan
- pištec žlutýCzech
- mohwaWelsh
- Gulhovedet MohouaDanish
- GelbköpfchenGerman
- flavkapa mohuoEsperanto
- Mohoua cabecigualdaSpanish
- زردمرغPersian
- mohuaFinnish
- Mohoua à tête jauneFrench
- žutoglava zviždavkaCroatian
- Sárgafejű maoriposzátaHungarian
- TestagiallaItalian
- キイロモフアムシクイJapanese
- geltongalvė mohuaLithuanian
- HouaMāori
- Łeesdísí Bikéyahdę́ę́ʼ biibiiʼii łitsooígííNavajo
- MohouaDutch
- Mohoua (vogel)Dutch
- gulhovudmohuaNorwegian Nynorsk
- gulhodemohuaNorwegian
- maorysek żółtogłowyPolish
- cabeça-amarelaPortuguese
- mohoua-de-cabeça-amarelaPortuguese
- moúa-de-cabeça-amarelaPortuguese
- Желтоголовая мохуаRussian
- proroček žltohlavýSlovak
- Žutoglava mohuaSerbian
- gulhuvad mohuaSwedish
- Sarıbaşlı MohuaTurkish
- могуа жовтоголовийUkrainian
- 黃頭刺鶯Chinese
- 黄头刺莺Chinese
Relatives of the yellowhead
Other species in the same genus Mohoua.
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Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the yellowhead?
An adult yellowhead weighs 26 g – 29.5 g, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
Where does the yellowhead live?
Catalogue of Life checklists list the yellowhead for 1 country: Australia. Checklist coverage is uneven, so the true range may be wider.
Is the yellowhead endangered?
The yellowhead is listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is close to qualifying as threatened.
What kind of animal is the yellowhead?
The yellowhead (Mohoua ochrocephala) belongs to the family Mohouidae in the order Passeriformes.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Yellowhead (Mohoua ochrocephala). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/yellowhead
“Yellowhead (Mohoua ochrocephala).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/yellowhead.
@misc{yellowhead_2026,
title = {Yellowhead (Mohoua ochrocephala)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/yellowhead},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}