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Tui
Parson Bird
Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae
A forest bird equally at home around the village
The tui has a swooping, undulating flight and you'll see a flash of white wingbar. The tuft of white feathers at its throat is usually obvious. But close up one really sees the subtleties of its almost iridescent blue/black plumage and in particular the fine "lace work" feathers across it's shoulders. The tui is another of the endemic honeyeaters and feeds mainly on nectar - from flowers of native plants such as kowhai and flax - but fruits and insects are eaten as well. Its fluid. It has a bell like song with harsh clicks, cackles and wheezes plus other odd noises. . A guest once called it the "R2D2" Bird
Size 300 mm
The tui has a swooping, undulating flight and you'll see a flash of white wingbar. The tuft of white feathers at its throat is usually obvious. But close up one really sees the subtleties of its almost iridescent blue/black plumage and in particular the fine "lace work" feathers across it's shoulders. The tui is another of the endemic honeyeaters and feeds mainly on nectar - from flowers of native plants such as kowhai and flax - but fruits and insects are eaten as well. Its fluid. It has a bell like song with harsh clicks, cackles and wheezes plus other odd noises. . A guest once called it the "R2D2" Bird
The Tui is an aggressive bird and we often watch it defending our honey water against all comers. On occasions it will swoop on feeding kaka and attempt to drive them off, and it is usually successful. The kaka tormenting the tui for a while, but eventually tiring of the game and flying off. Tui are generally quite shy around people, but given time at our bird table become very tolerant of our close presence.
Tui are superb mimics and can easily copy other birds and in particular the bellbird.
Size 300 mm
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Tui Song Tui have an amazing repertoire of songs and noises they can make. They are excellent mimics |
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Tui Fighting. Tui are very vocal when squabbling, and it's accompanied buy much wing flapping and pecking. |
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Feeding in our garden. Tui have the feathered tongue of a typical nectar feeder, and ther curved beak exactly mirrors the curve of flax blossom. |
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Singer. Tui really put heart & soul into singing. Often their song is too high pitched to hear, antill they drop an octave or so |
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More song. |
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Fighting Tui hate having any other bird in "their" food supply but we do occasionally see several all feeding at our honey bowl, although it is a fragile truce to say the least. |
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photos on this site courtesy
Gilbert van Reenen, Cleangreen Images,
Ivan Tait, Peter Tait.