The Department of Conservation currently has the South Island saddleback listed as At Risk--Declining.

The South Island saddleback was first formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae.

[3] Gmelin based his description on the "wattled stare" that had been described and illustrated in 1783 by the English ornithologist John Latham in his book A General Synopsis of Birds.

[10][11] Saddlebacks are especially vulnerable as they have had limited exposure to avian malaria, due to the disease's relatively short history in New Zealand.

[12] In Māori mythology, the orange mark was caused by the demi-god Māui asked the tīeke to fetch him some water but the bird refused and pretended not to have heard him.