gryphonvert
Karori Nature Reserve - Tui!
Not the best shot in the world, I'm afraid. But the bird eating from the feeder ( you can see some of its iridescent breast and the white tuft feathers at its throat) is a tui, one of my favorites of the NZ birds. It has two voice-boxes, so its calls are extraordinarily complex and imitative. (Captive tuis have been taught to talk like parrots, and their mimicking is amazing.) They sound like nothing so much as R2D2 from "Star Wars" -- EXACTLY. It's very strange to be walking through the bush and hear that.
Karori Nature Reserve - Tui!
Not the best shot in the world, I'm afraid. But the bird eating from the feeder ( you can see some of its iridescent breast and the white tuft feathers at its throat) is a tui, one of my favorites of the NZ birds. It has two voice-boxes, so its calls are extraordinarily complex and imitative. (Captive tuis have been taught to talk like parrots, and their mimicking is amazing.) They sound like nothing so much as R2D2 from "Star Wars" -- EXACTLY. It's very strange to be walking through the bush and hear that.