Tui

White necks, beautiful feathers. Yes, I am talking about the tui. The tui is a native bird to a country called New Zealand. I live in New Zealand, so I get the pleasure of seeing these birds everyday. If you have never heard or had the pleasure of seeing what the tui get up to everyday keep reading.

Tui have a puffy white necks which are called pois. They also have black and green heads. Their bodies are a mixture of black, purple, green, blue and a reddish rusty colour. The calls are a complicated mix of nice tunes, loud tunes and other times it is a grunt, cough or wheeze.

Tui are birds so they lays eggs, the female usually lays eggs in September to January. The tui builds nests like every other bird, the nest is usually built by the female. The structure is built with strong twigs, sticks and grass, for the outside. The egg is white with pink and brown splotches. male tui do not have much to do with the baby but after awhile the male feeds the baby and helps the female take care of it.

Tui eats nectar and honeydew from trees like flax, rata and pohutukawa trees. The babies will eat large invertebrates such as worms, slugs and insects. As well as nectar and honeydew they eat fruit, pollen and seeds. A funny thing about the tui is that when it eats nectar from flax it makes them look drunk.

The tui is mostly found on islands. They also roam gardens looking for food. Tui are generally found in forests with lots of trees to keep their nest and babies safe. The tui left Poor Knight Island because of the bellbird. Bellbirds also eats nectar and they sing so beautifully that the tui feels like it has to sing better so there was a big competition. One of them had to leave.

The tui has a beautiful call but ferocious temper and that is so cool. It sounds just like me! They are my absolute favourite bird in New Zealand.