Tauhou - silvereye - Zosterops lateralis
Photographed at Lakes Ellesmere, Canterbury.
12 cm., 13 g., olive–green, white rings around the eyes, fine tapered bill and a brush tipped tongue for drinking nectar.
The Silvereye is a very small passerine bird native to Australia, New Zealand and the south-west Pacific islands of Lord Howe, New Caledonia, Loyalty Islands, Vanuatu, and Fiji. It now common to abundant throughout New Zealand in spite of being a relatively recent arrival – having self introduced from Australia around 1832. Tauhou, the Maori name for this little bird, reflects its recent history in New Zealand, the name meaning “stranger” or “little stranger”.
Silvereyes breed in spring and early summer (mainly between September and December), making a tiny cup of grass, moss, hair, spiderweb, and thistledown, suspended from a small tree or shrub, and laying 2 to 4 pale blue eggs. Two broods may be raised during this, the breeding season. Once the young have fledged, Silvereyes gather into flocks and, especially in autumn and winter, may visit suburban gardens in large numbers where they will feed voraciously on fruit and gorge on clean fat or honey water put out by people to encourage them into their gardens. Beneficial visitors, they eat a lot of pest insects, but some orchardists do not welcome their attentions as they can also damage a lot of fruit if visiting in large numbers.
It is believed that in their short span in New Zealand they have had a significant influence on the spread of seed from native forest. In the autumn and winter they move about in quite large flocks, descending upon a species and stripping it of its berries before moving on. Because their numbers can be far greater than any other bird species, it is likely that the silvereye has had a significant impact on native forest habitats by changing the seed dispersal pattern and by competing with other animals as well as birds for fruit, nectar and insects.
Tauhou are a small olive–green forest bird with white rings around the eyes. They have a fine tapered bill and a brush tipped tongue like the Tui and Korimako, the bellbird, for drinking nectar. There are many species in Africa, southern Asia, and the south western Pacific, but it is the Tasmanian sub–Australian species which migrates to the eastern states of the Australian mainland in winter which colonised New Zealand.
The birds are strongly territorial and are often seen fluttering their wings aggressively at another bird. The flocking call, often heard in flight, is an excited chirping, while single birds often give a plaintive ‘cree’ call.
Their success as a species has probably a lot to do with their varied diet which is mainly comprised of insects, fruit and nectar, but they will also readily take fat, cooked meat, bread and sugar water from bird tables. But in winter when food supplies such as berries become scarce, very many of them perish.
Tauhou - silvereye - Zosterops lateralis
Photographed at Lakes Ellesmere, Canterbury.
12 cm., 13 g., olive–green, white rings around the eyes, fine tapered bill and a brush tipped tongue for drinking nectar.
The Silvereye is a very small passerine bird native to Australia, New Zealand and the south-west Pacific islands of Lord Howe, New Caledonia, Loyalty Islands, Vanuatu, and Fiji. It now common to abundant throughout New Zealand in spite of being a relatively recent arrival – having self introduced from Australia around 1832. Tauhou, the Maori name for this little bird, reflects its recent history in New Zealand, the name meaning “stranger” or “little stranger”.
Silvereyes breed in spring and early summer (mainly between September and December), making a tiny cup of grass, moss, hair, spiderweb, and thistledown, suspended from a small tree or shrub, and laying 2 to 4 pale blue eggs. Two broods may be raised during this, the breeding season. Once the young have fledged, Silvereyes gather into flocks and, especially in autumn and winter, may visit suburban gardens in large numbers where they will feed voraciously on fruit and gorge on clean fat or honey water put out by people to encourage them into their gardens. Beneficial visitors, they eat a lot of pest insects, but some orchardists do not welcome their attentions as they can also damage a lot of fruit if visiting in large numbers.
It is believed that in their short span in New Zealand they have had a significant influence on the spread of seed from native forest. In the autumn and winter they move about in quite large flocks, descending upon a species and stripping it of its berries before moving on. Because their numbers can be far greater than any other bird species, it is likely that the silvereye has had a significant impact on native forest habitats by changing the seed dispersal pattern and by competing with other animals as well as birds for fruit, nectar and insects.
Tauhou are a small olive–green forest bird with white rings around the eyes. They have a fine tapered bill and a brush tipped tongue like the Tui and Korimako, the bellbird, for drinking nectar. There are many species in Africa, southern Asia, and the south western Pacific, but it is the Tasmanian sub–Australian species which migrates to the eastern states of the Australian mainland in winter which colonised New Zealand.
The birds are strongly territorial and are often seen fluttering their wings aggressively at another bird. The flocking call, often heard in flight, is an excited chirping, while single birds often give a plaintive ‘cree’ call.
Their success as a species has probably a lot to do with their varied diet which is mainly comprised of insects, fruit and nectar, but they will also readily take fat, cooked meat, bread and sugar water from bird tables. But in winter when food supplies such as berries become scarce, very many of them perish.