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Tui (Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae), one of New Zealand's native honeyeaters, are important pollinators of native forest flowers.
The tui's beak is perfectly shaped to fit into the harakeke, or NZ flax, flower from which it feeds on nectar. In this photo, taken a few days ago, these flax flowers had still not opened properly.
The tui is a large honeyeater, 27 to 32 cm (11–13 in) in length. The Chatham Islands subspecies is larger on average than the nominate subspecies, and heavier.
Males tend to be heavier than females. Nominate males weigh between 65–150 g (2.3–5.3 oz), and females 58–105 g (2.0–3.7 oz). Males of the Chatham subspecies are 89–240 g (3.1–8.5 oz) and females 89–170 g (3.1–6.0 oz).
At first glance the bird appears completely black except for a small tuft of white feathers at its neck and a small white wing patch, causing it to resemble a parson in clerical attire.
On closer inspection it can be seen that tui have brown feathers on the back and flanks, a multicoloured iridescent sheen that varies with the angle from which the light strikes them, and a dusting of small, white-shafted feathers on the back and sides of the neck that produce a lacy collar.
This image was taken at Mount Manganui , near Tauranga in the Bay Of Plenty on the North Island of New Zealand
Tricky shot into a fairly bright sky, hence in PP I had to lift the shadows a bit and increased the exposure. Had to crop a lot too since the bird was quite far away. Overall I am quite happy with the result.
Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae ssp. novaeseelandiae
Waitangi, Bay of Islands, New Zealand
"The tui is known as a honeyeater - its beak is well shaped to get inside flowers to feed on their nectar.
But it also feeds on fruit and insects, in the air and on the ground, and other small creatures without backbones.
When it feeds on nectar, it also picks up pollen from flowers, so the tui has an important role as a pollinator. It has adapted well to human changes to its environment and is now commonly seen in urban areas.
Perhaps the tul's most remarkable feature from a human point of view is its extraordinary vocal range - from liquid notes to grunts, coughs, clicks and whistles. In former times, Mori kept tui as pets, and even trained them to speak."
I took this Tui at Mount Victoria Lookout in Wellington at the weekend. Unfortunately from this angle there is just a car park for the background. It is definitely the best series of shots I have taken of a Tui though as they aren't very common around Christchurch.
... in full song on a totara tree.
Tui are intelligent, aggressively territorial, and are said to be able to imitate the calls of nearly every other bird, as well as a vast array of other sounds.
Arriva Kent & Surrey (MD)
TUI 7939 (6146)
Volvo B7TL Wrightbus Eclipse Gemini
New to Arriva Midlands as 4009 and registered as FJ56 OBG.
Sad sight
All lined up at Brussels Airport are the unfortunate Boeing 737 MAX-8 of TUI Airlines Belgium.
A TUI Airlines Netherlands Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner on short finals for for Schiphol Airports Zwanenburgbaan on a beautiful morning
One of the commonest of the remaining New Zealand endemic songbirds, and one of the weirdest. Tui make all sorts of crazy fizzing and popping sounds and are clearly very smart birds, showing lots of complex behavour. Oddly noisy wingbeats when they fly. Also known as Parsonbird. If only more of NZ's endemic landbirds had survived...