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The Tui an almost perfect mimic; NZ Native Bird Recovery Centre
Topic Started: Dec 10 2006, 04:19 PM (149 Views)
Kahu
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The Tui is one of my favourite birds, it is a honey eater and a bit like a Northern Mocking bird so I'm told. It has an irridescent dark plumage, and a tuft of white feathers just under the chin. These feathers reminded the early settlers of the Missionaries' white collars, so they gave it the name of the Parson Bird. It has a melodious song, and is quite territorial in the 'song battles' for territory and mates.
There is a maori proverb about anyone who can speak well and has a fine singing voice is said 'to have the throat of a Tui', indicating mana or prestige for the tribe. These birds are also great mimics. There was one I remember, at Auckland Zoo called 'Jack' who used to wolf whistle at all the girls, and say 'Give us a Kiss darlin', and swear worse than a sailor! Native birds are totally protected in Aotearoa-New Zealand, there can be no private ownership, and the birds must not be kept in captivity. There are exceptions where the bird has been injured, or mistreated, or kept in close proximity to humans or it's enemies, then it may be kept in protective custody, so to speak.

Have a look at the video and you'll see what I mean. The bird recovery centre does really great work with our endangered species.

Tui Video

This site lists all our birds - extinct, endemic and introduced... Can you find Kahu?

NZ Native Bird Site
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shawna
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Interesting Alan.
Our blackbirds will mimic but not talk.
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Kahu
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Me he korokoro tui.”.

“How eloquent he is; he has the
throat of a Tui”.



Suppose, sweet eyes, you went into a distant country
Where these young islands are nothing but a word;
Suppose you never came back again by Terawhiti:
Would you remember and be faithful to your bird?

And when they boasted there of thrushes, larks and linnets,
Would you hold up a stubborn little hand,
And say: “Not so! I know a sweeter singer
Than any bird that cries across your land!”

Would you, remembering, tell them of the Tui?
Wild, wild and blinding in its wildest note.
They - they never heard him, swinging on a flax–flower,
Mad with the honey and the noon in his throat.

They say that in the old days stately rangatiras
Slit his tongue, and made him speak instead of sing;
We would rather see him shining and gold–dusted,
From a morning kowhai flinging wide the spring.

So, my little sweet eyes, if you go a–sailing
Out beyond Pencarrow, and come not again,
Hold unto the southlands in the pure October,
When the Tui’s sweetness ripples through the rain.

— Eileen Duggan
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shawna
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That is beautiful Alan.
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Very interesting Kahu.
I will be back later to see the video and bird site.

Our area has many mocking birds
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The videos wouldn't play for me. It said 'opening' and then immediately went to 'stopped'.
I bookmarked it and will add it to the problems my son can solve for me.

I was so surprised to see the variety of Penguins you have. Especially Emperors.
I know they breed in the coldest part of Antartica.

And of course I read about the Kahu.

I love watching hawks glide. Once one grabbed a bird off a feeder and that hurt.
That's why I don't watch the Animal Planet channel too often.
My brain accepts the fact that animals live on other animals. I just don't want to watch.
.
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shawna
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Just been going over the URLs you posted.There great Alan.
such different songs birds Real interesting I'll be visiting it again. Thank you
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Kahu
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jezzie
Dec 11 2006, 01:53 AM
The videos wouldn't play for me. It said 'opening' and then immediately went to 'stopped'.
I bookmarked it and will add it to the problems my son can solve for me.

I was so surprised to see the variety of Penguins you have. Especially Emperors.
I know they breed in the coldest part of Antartica.

And of course I read about the  Kahu.

I had trouble getting the videos to start too. I found if you double clicked on on the play/pause triangle it went - or if you click the play in external viewer link - you get a better picture and sound in Windows Media Player, but you have to flip back and forth selecting each clip.

Penguins are quite common here near the coastline - there are road signs warning motorists of Penguin crossing areas and times - mainly Little Blue or Fairy Penguins. If they get to nest under your house they can be a problem because they STINK and are really Noisy Neighbours! A bit like NZ Fur Seals which are also common and protected - when you do a coastal walk you can usually smell them before you see them which is good because they can be a bit temperamental and really give you a run for your money over a boulder strewn shore. You may remember we've protected the Great White Shark which is the main predator of both seals and penguins, and wet-suited humans. Fishermen are constantly complaining about poorer catches because of the increased fur seal number - so I suppose there is nature's balance to be kept.
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Kahu
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As far as penguins go, there are only three species that nest on the mainland of NZ. The Little Blues nest up and down the coastline of both islands, even coming quite close to the CBD of the capital city, Wellington. The Yellow-eyed Penguin or Hoiho, which nests between Dunedin and Oamaru on the east coast of the South Island. There have been some concerns about this species because of predations by dogs, stoats, cats and human activities destroying their nesting areas. Sometimes the birds seem to be getting sick with some mysterious illness, or merely suffering form lack of food. The Fiordland Crested Penguin nests down in the SW corner of the South Island in Fiordland which is a World Heritage Area.

All the other species of penguins are rare visitors to our mainland shores. They usually nest on our five remote sub-antarctic island groups - all World Heritage listed - The Snares, Bounty Islands, Antipodes Islands, the Auckland Islands and Campbell Islands. Australia's Macquarie Island is close to these groups too and has penguin colonies there too.

The Emperor Penguin only nests deep in the Antarctic area - as in "The March of the Penguins", but does come north for feeding ranges.
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Thanks ... heading back to the video now.
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Kahu
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Coincidence, or what? The Yellow Eyed Penguin, the Hoiho, population on Stewart Island (the third Island of NZ), has been hit by a mystery illness. Only one chick out of a population of 40, is left alive. At the moment we are not sure whether they died because they starved through lack of food, or that they have an illness which stops them from digesting their food properly. Conservation staff are investigating the problem. Meanwhile the lone chick is not out of the woods yet either.
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