The whitehead (Mohoua albicilla; Māori: pōpokotea) is a small species (15 cm in length, 18.5/14.5 g.[2]) of passerine bird endemic to New Zealand.

Formerly quite common and widespread in native forests in the North Island, the whitehead has suffered a marked decline in the past two centuries since European colonisation and today it is restricted to a fraction of its former range.

As well as the species appearing in many legends, whiteheads were viewed by Māori to have roles as messengers of the gods and as fortune tellers or seers – and because of these beliefs, live birds were caught and used in several different kinds of ceremonial rites.

[7] Their main prey are spiders, moths, caterpillars and beetles[2] which are gleaned from tree trunks, leaves and branches in the canopy and subcanopy.

[3][5] They will supplement their predominantly insectivorous diet with the fruits of native plants such as māhoe and matipo and like the yellowhead, they frequently hang upside down from branches or twigs while feeding.

[2] Between 2–4 eggs of variable colouration are laid, the incubation period is generally around 18 days and fledging takes a further 16–19, the chicks being fed by both parents.

[3] In November and December, the long-tailed cuckoo frequently acts as a brood parasite for nesting whiteheads by pushing their eggs out of the nest and laying a single egg of its own in their place[8][9] In times past, the whitehead held a special place within Māori culture among the forest birds of New Zealand.

[10] In the past, the appearance of a flock of whiteheads was interpreted by Māori from the upper regions of the Whanganui River as a sign that kēhua (ghosts) were nearby.

[9] 19th-century forestry workers (bushmen) regarded the whitehead as a useful forecaster of the weather: "They kept up a lively chirping some hours before an approaching storm.

Subfossil remains of whiteheads have been found on the North Island[2] and the species was still very widespread when European settlement of New Zealand began in the 1840s.

As a result, the species has experienced local extinctions of many of its populations throughout the North Island, particularly in its northern regions; whiteheads disappeared from Northland in the 1870s and from the greater Auckland area in the 1880s.