View allAll Photos Tagged TUI
Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae
The Tui appears black from distance but is actually a mix of greens, blues and bronzes with grey whisker-like feathers around the neck. It also has a couple of pure white throat tufts.
An attractive, common endemic in NZ
I was outside hanging the laundry when I heard the tui calling... so I got the camera, found the tui, and here he is, high in the gum tree.
Native only in New Zealand. These birds have a unique calling.And the most interesting thing I find about these birds is that little bit of white beard like feathers under its neck :)
Behaviour
Tui are considered to be very intelligent, much like parrots. They also resemble parrots in their ability to clearly imitate human speech,[1] and are 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—unusually for a bird, Tui have two voiceboxes[2] and this is what enables Tui to perform such a myriad of vocalisations.
Some of the huge range of Tui sounds are beyond the human register. Watching a Tui sing, one can observe gaps in the sound when the beak is agape and throat tufts throbbing. Tui will also sing at night, especially around the full moon period.
Out once again photographing Tui's. They make wonderful subjects and soon they will be gone again up country. So I'm making the most of them.
Tui, a native of New Zealand, (also known as the parson bird for his white "collar"). Although these birds were for some time endangered, they have, over the last 25 or 30 years assimilated well into the urban areas of New Zealand, even to the point of being seen quite regularly in our Capital city. They are Nectar eaters and feed on Native flax flowers, Kowhai tree flowers and also the flowers of Australian Eucalyptus trees.
CODE 911
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Tui
Orana Wildlife Park
McLeans Island Road
Harewood
Christchurch
New Zealand
www.oranawildlifepark.co.nz/about.htm
Photo Taken With:
Canon EOS 1000D
+ Canon EF/EF-S lenses
+ 10.1 effective megapixels
+ 2.5-inch TFT color LCD monitor
+ Eye-level pentamirror SLR
+ Live View shooting.
+ EOS Built-in Sensor cleaning system
+ Wide-area 7 point AF with center cross-type sensors
+ DIGIC III Image Processor
+ PictBridge and Canon Direct Print compatible – no PC required
+ Continuous Drive up to 3 frames per second for as many JPEGs until the card is filled
+ Storage: SD & SDHC Card
+ Sensitivity: Auto, ISO 100 to 1600
Edited With:
Dynamic Photo HDR 4.6
High Dynamic Range Imaging