Tui Research

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.