Females and juveniles are duller than males, lacking the black head and yellow chest band.

Males give a piercing three-note whistle (often heard in spring) and a variety of other calls not given by the female.

Research has suggested that they face interspecific competition from the tūī and New Zealand bellbird, and will feed from lower-quality food sources when these species are present.

The stitchbird rarely lands on the ground and seldom visits flowers on the large canopy trees favoured by the tūī and bellbird (this may simply be because of the competition from the more aggressive, larger birds).

Preferred fruits include Coprosma species, five finger, pate, tree fuchsia and raukawa.

[12] Stitchbird have some of the highest levels of extra-pair paternity of any bird with up to 79% of the chicks in the nest sired by other males, possibly as a result of forced copulations.

Starting in the 1980s the New Zealand Wildlife Service (now Department of Conservation) translocated numbers of individuals from Hauturu to other island sanctuaries to create separate populations.

The hatchings were described as a significant conservation milestone by sanctuary staff,[14] and in early 2019 Zealandia banded their 1000th hihi chick although the adult population is believed to remain at about 100 birds.

[20] In autumn 2007, 59 adult birds from the Tiritiri Matangi population were released in Cascade Kauri Park, in the Waitākere Ranges near Auckland[21][22] and by the end of the year the first chicks had fledged there.