Tui Description
Where they are from:
-Tūī are common
throughout New Zealand in forests, towns and on off-shore islands.
-They are found in native forests,
bush reserves and bush remnants.
-Tui
are widespread and locally abundant on the North, South and Stewart Islands,
and their offshore islands; they are scarce only in drier, largely open,
country east of the Southern Alps
-Tui are locally abundant on the
mainland and on some offshore islands, especially where there is a
concentration of flowering plants or fruiting trees (e.g. flowering kowhai,
fuchsia, flax, rata or gums; or fruiting kahikatea) and generally in higher
numbers in areas where there has been pest (possum and predator) control.
--Tūī
will live where there is a balance of ground cover, shrubs and trees. They are
quite aggressive, and will chase other tūī and other species (such as bellbird,
silvereye and kereru) away from good food sources.
Behaviour:
-Male tui can be
extremely aggressive, chasing all other birds (large and small) from
their territory with loud flapping and sounds akin to rude human
speech. This is especially true of other tui when possession of a favoured
feeding tree is impinged.
-Tui are notoriously
aggressive, and will defend a flowering or fruiting tree, or a small part of a
large tree, from all-comers, whether another tui or another bird species. They
vigorously chase other birds away from their feeding territory with loud whirring
wings. Tui have a display flight, in which they fly upwards above the canopy,
and then make a noisy, near-vertical, dive back into the canopy. Tui play a
very important role in the dynamics of New Zealand forests because they are one
of the most common pollinators of flowering plants, and also disperse the seeds
of trees with medium-sized fruits.
-The powered flight
of tui is quite loud as they have developed short wide wings, giving excellent
maneuverability in the dense forest they prefer, but requiring rapid flapping.
They can be seen to perform a mating display of rising at speed in a vertical
climb in clear air, before stalling and dropping into a powered dive, then
repeating. Much of this behaviour is more notable during the breeding
season of early spring—September and October. Females alone build nests of
twigs, grasses and mosses.
Singing:
-Can often be heard singing their
beautiful melodies long before they are spotted.
-In flight, tui
maintain contact and harass raptors with a repetitive scream.
-Feathers fluffed
up and loudly crying
-Intelligent like parrots, Tui are also
known for their noisy, unusual call, different for each individual, that
combine bellbird-like notes with clicks, cackles, timber-like creaks and
groans, and wheezing sounds.
-Tui will also sing at night, especially around the
full moon period.
Feeding:
-Nectar is the normal diet but fruit and
insects are frequently eaten, and pollen and seeds more occasionally.
Particularly popular is the New Zealand flax, whose nectar sometimes ferments,
resulting in the tui flying in a fashion that suggests that they might be
drunk. They are the main pollinators offlax, kowhai, kaka
beak and some other plants. Note that the flowers of the three plants
mentioned are similar in shape to the tui's beak—a vivid example
of mutualisticcoevolution.
--Tūī are important
pollinators of many native trees and will fly large distances, especially
during winter for their favourite foods
Breeding
Eggs are laid from September to January. The nest,
built by the female, is a rough bulky structure of twigs and sticks, lined with
fine grasses, high in the canopy or subcanopy. The clutch is 2-4 white or pale
pink eggs, marked with reddish-brown spots and blotches. Incubation and
brooding is by the female only. Chicks are initially fed only by the female,
but later the male helps to feed them.
Description:
-Recognise them by their
distinctive white tuft under their throat. This tuft contrasts dramatically
with the metallic blue-green sheen to their underlying black colour.
-They look black from a distance,
but in good light tui have a blue, green and bronze iridescent sheen, and
distinctive white throat tufts (poi). They are usually very vocal, with a
complicated mix of tuneful notes interspersed with coughs, grunts and wheezes.
In flight, their bodies slant with the head higher than the tail, and their
noisy whirring flight is interspersed with short glides.
-Belong to the honeyeater family,
which means they feed mainly on nectar from flowers of native plants such as
kōwhai, puriri, rewarewa, kahikatea, pohutukawa, rātā and flax. Occasionally
they will eat insects too.
Threats:
Tui are locally abundant on the mainland and on
some offshore islands, especially where there is a concentration of flowering
plants or fruiting trees (e.g. flowering kowhai, fuchsia, flax, rata or gums;
or fruiting kahikatea) and generally in higher numbers in areas where there has
been pest (predators control such as possum, feral cats and stoats) control.
