Tītī/ōi

The name tītī is mostly used for the sooty shearwater but is also a generic name for many species of seabirds – shearwaters, petrels, prions and others – that visit the shores of Aotearoa.

Tītī were dubbed muttonbird by Pākehā because the fatty meat resembled mutton. Ōi is the grey-faced petrel found in North Island habitats, also covered by the name muttonbird.

Large breeding colonies of tītī are found on the small offshore islands around Rakiura (Stewart Island). Tītī are an important food source and also used for trading with other iwi and for their feathers and down. When the squabs become very fat, they are collected from the nests. Later, when fledglings emerge after sunset to exercise their wings, they are hunted using torches to dazzle them. The manu are plucked, cleaned, boned and boiled, then preserved in their own fat – traditionally in pōhā, large bags made of kelp, but more commonly now in lidded plastic buckets.

One common tauparapara that is used to begin a mihi starts with the words ‘ka tangi te tītī ... ka tangi hoki ahau’ showing basic identification of Māori people with this ancestral food source.

Another whakataukī is ‘he manawa tītī’ to underline the qualities of a person with great endurance.

The harvesting of tītī remains an important cultural and economic activity for Rakiura Māori. There have been decades of work both politically to retain access to the resource and in partnership with scientists to study the manu and ensure its sustainability.

Some whānau still harvest ōi on the Mokohinau Islands (off Ruakākā) and Aldermen Islands (off Whitianga).