More Tui Research

http://www.nzbirds.com/birds/tuinest.html

-They love the sunlight and are often found high up in trees.
-They love to sing, often singing for a long time.
-In my own idea I could incouporate something to do with the sun trees and leaves?
-The Tui have a fearlessness about them

http://www.nzbirds.com/birds/tui2.html
-The Tui Welcome speech, there are alot of maori narrative opportunities?

-A Tui Poem
The two birds, said she, are sitting on a bough of a tree, the tane and the wahine, and this is their musical dialogue. The tane says to his bird wife:

“Te tu e hu,
Te tu e hu,
Te to karekare
Te memeke tetere ma-maku
Riri hengihengi.”

(These words describe the gentle, soothing sound of the birds as they flit on softly winnowing wings to and fro, and their movements in shaking their plumage free of moisture in the foliage.)

The male bird nods his head repeatedly as he utters these words and shakes his white throat-tassel.

The female bird says:

“Ko wai, ko wai tenei?
Ko au, ko au;
Tui pai, huruhuru maeneene.
Ko terepu, terewai.
Horohoro-horo!”

(Who, who is this? ‘Tis I, the pretty tui, with soft, smooth plumage.’ The words in the last two lines are onomatopoetic, descriptive of the musical call and the deep-throated gurgling sound often uttered by the tui.)

The pair flap their wings and they rise and fly away to the fork of a tree nearby, where the keikei plant grows in great bunches, with ripe tirori fruit (patangatanga), usually called the tawhara, which is the name of the flower.

The female bird utters these words:

“E toro
E toro
Ki te pakihaka tirori
Ma taua.”

(“Reach out, stretch out and break off the sweet fruit of the keikei for us two.”)

The birds feast on the tirori fruit, and then the tane utters this in a flute-like note, prolonged to a whistle:

“Hu-hu-e! whio-o, whio-o!”
- See more at: http://www.nzbirds.com/birds/tuisong.html#sthash.k4c8iCwo.dpuf

http://happyzine.co.nz/2012/06/20/everything-you-need-to-know-about-our-amazing-new-zealand-tui/

-The Tui: Known as the chatterboxes of New Zealand birds they are friendly, inquisitive, full of life and sometimes confrontational.

-"Living in Wellington at present I am enjoying the antics of these amusing birds. As I walked up a short track through a patch of bush one day I was fascinated to hear what I was pretty sure must be a parrot. I crept quietly along the path hoping to see perhaps a Kaka, a bird I have only seen in captivity and had no idea if they lived around Wellington. As the chattering grew louder, changing pitch and intonation I became more curious and was convinced this ‘parrot’ was practicing some speech. I looked up and there it was, a Tui going all out in a conversation with itself."

-Tui have been recorded and observed copying both voices and sounds.
-Studies have found that Tui from one area will have a different dialect to Tui from another and their song changes from season to season.
-The Tui have a double voice box that enables its vast range of vocalization and sounds that we can't hear all of.