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The tūī (''Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae'') is a medium-sized bird native to New Zealand. It is blue, green, and bronze coloured with a distinctive white throat tuft (poi). It is an
endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...
passerine A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped') which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines generally have an anisodactyl arrangement of their ...
bird of
New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
, and the only species in the
genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...
''Prosthemadera''. It is one of the largest species in the diverse Australasian
honeyeater The honeyeaters are a large and diverse family, Meliphagidae, of small to medium-sized birds. The family includes the Australian chats, myzomelas, friarbirds, wattlebirds, miners and melidectes. They are most common in Australia and New Gui ...
family Meliphagidae, and one of two living species of that family found in New Zealand, the other being the
New Zealand bellbird The New Zealand bellbird (''Anthornis melanura''), also known by its Māori language names korimako, makomako and kōmako, is a medium-sized species of honeyeater Endemism in birds, endemic to New Zealand. It has been the only living member of ...
(''Anthornis melanura''). The tūī has a wide distribution in the archipelago, ranging from the subtropical
Kermadec Islands The Kermadec Islands ( ; ) are a subtropical island arc in the South Pacific Ocean northeast of New Zealand's North Island, and a similar distance southwest of Tonga. The islands are part of New Zealand. They are in total area and uninhabit ...
to the sub-Antarctic
Auckland Islands The Auckland Islands ( Māori: ''Motu Maha'' "Many islands" or ''Maungahuka'' "Snowy mountains") are an archipelago of New Zealand, lying south of the South Island. The main Auckland Island, occupying , is surrounded by smaller Adams Island ...
, as well as the main islands.


Taxonomy

Europeans first encountered the tūī in 1770 at Queen Charlotte Sound on the north coast of New Zealand's
South Island The South Island ( , 'the waters of Pounamu, Greenstone') is the largest of the three major islands of New Zealand by surface area, the others being the smaller but more populous North Island and Stewart Island. It is bordered to the north by ...
during Captain James Cook's first voyage to the Pacific Ocean. Specimens were brought back to England and an engraving of a tūī by the English naturalist Peter Brown, which he called "The New Zeland creeper", was published in 1776. The tūī was seen on all three of Cook's voyages. Cook's account of his second voyage to the Pacific was published in 1777 and included a description and an illustration of the tūī. He used the names "poly-bird" and "poe-bird". He praised the bird: "The flesh is most delicious, and was the greatest luxury the woods afforded us." In 1782 the English ornithologist John Latham included the tūī as the "poë bee-eater" in his book ''A General Synopsis of Birds''. Latham described a specimen in the Leverian Museum in London. No author had introduced a scientific name, but when in 1788 the German naturalist
Johann Friedrich Gmelin Johann Friedrich Gmelin (8 August 1748 – 1 November 1804) was a German natural history, naturalist, chemist, botanist, entomologist, herpetologist, and malacologist. Education Johann Friedrich Gmelin was born as the eldest son of Philipp F ...
revised and expanded
Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...
's ''
Systema Naturae ' (originally in Latin written ' with the Orthographic ligature, ligature æ) is one of the major works of the Sweden, Swedish botanist, zoologist and physician Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778) and introduced the Linnaean taxonomy. Although the syste ...
'', he included the tūī with a short description, coined the
binomial name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin grammatical forms, altho ...
''Merops novaeseelandiae'' and cited the publications by Brown, Cook and Latham. The tūī is now the only species placed in the genus ''Prosthemadera'' that was introduced in 1840 by the English zoologist George Gray. The genus name combines the
Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...
''prosthema'' meaning "appendage" with ''dera'' meaning "neck". Two
subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...
are recognised: * ''P. n. novaeseelandiae'' ( Gmelin, JF, 1788) – North, South, Stewart and satellites,
Kermadec Islands The Kermadec Islands ( ; ) are a subtropical island arc in the South Pacific Ocean northeast of New Zealand's North Island, and a similar distance southwest of Tonga. The islands are part of New Zealand. They are in total area and uninhabit ...
(northeast of
North Island The North Island ( , 'the fish of Māui', historically New Ulster) is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but less populous South Island by Cook Strait. With an area of , it is the List ...
) and
Auckland Islands The Auckland Islands ( Māori: ''Motu Maha'' "Many islands" or ''Maungahuka'' "Snowy mountains") are an archipelago of New Zealand, lying south of the South Island. The main Auckland Island, occupying , is surrounded by smaller Adams Island ...
(south of
South Island The South Island ( , 'the waters of Pounamu, Greenstone') is the largest of the three major islands of New Zealand by surface area, the others being the smaller but more populous North Island and Stewart Island. It is bordered to the north by ...
; New Zealand) * ''P. n. chathamensis'' Hartert, EJO, 1928 –
Chatham Islands The Chatham Islands ( ; Moriori language, Moriori: , 'Misty Sun'; ) are an archipelago in the Pacific Ocean about east of New Zealand's South Island, administered as part of New Zealand, and consisting of about 10 islands within an approxima ...
(east of
South Island The South Island ( , 'the waters of Pounamu, Greenstone') is the largest of the three major islands of New Zealand by surface area, the others being the smaller but more populous North Island and Stewart Island. It is bordered to the north by ...
, New Zealand) The bird's name comes from the
Māori language Māori (; endonym: 'the Māori language', commonly shortened to ) is an Eastern Polynesian languages, Eastern Polynesian language and the language of the Māori people, the indigenous population of mainland New Zealand. The southernmost membe ...
. The plural is ''tūī'' in modern
New Zealand English New Zealand English (NZE) is the variant of the English language spoken and written by most English-speaking New Zealanders. Its language code in ISO and Internet standards is en-NZ. It is the first language of the majority of the populati ...
, or ''ngā tūī'' in Māori usage; some speakers still use the '-s' suffix to produce the Anglicised form ''tūīs'' to indicate plurality, but this practice is becoming less common. For many years the prevailing spelling was ''tui'' without the macrons that indicate long vowels, but spelling Māori
loanwords A loanword (also a loan word, loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language (the recipient or target language), through the process of borrowing. Borrowing is a metaphorical term t ...
with macrons is now common in
New Zealand English New Zealand English (NZE) is the variant of the English language spoken and written by most English-speaking New Zealanders. Its language code in ISO and Internet standards is en-NZ. It is the first language of the majority of the populati ...
. The
International Ornithologists' Union The International Ornithologists' Union (IOU) is an international organization for the promotion of ornithology Ornithology, from Ancient Greek ὄρνις (''órnis''), meaning "bird", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", ...
(IOC), which has a policy of not using accents, lists ''Tui'' as the bird's English name. Early European colonists called it the ''parson bird'' or ''mocking-bird'' but these names are no longer used. The closest living relative to tūī is the
New Zealand bellbird The New Zealand bellbird (''Anthornis melanura''), also known by its Māori language names korimako, makomako and kōmako, is a medium-sized species of honeyeater Endemism in birds, endemic to New Zealand. It has been the only living member of ...
; genetic analysis indicates its ancestor diverged from a lineage that gave rise to the New Zealand and Chatham bellbirds around 5 million years ago. The
cladogram A cladogram (from Greek language, Greek ''clados'' "branch" and ''gramma'' "character") is a diagram used in cladistics to show relations among organisms. A cladogram is not, however, an Phylogenetic tree, evolutionary tree because it does not s ...
below shows this relationship:


Description

The tūī is a large honeyeater, 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 , and females . Males of the Chatham subspecies are and females . 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 A parson is an ordained Christian person responsible for a small area, typically a parish. The term was formerly often used for some Anglican clergy and, more rarely, for ordained ministers in some other churches. It is no longer a formal term d ...
in clerical attire. On closer inspection (see image) it can be seen that tūī have brown feathers on the back and flanks, a multicoloured
iridescent Iridescence (also known as goniochromism) is the phenomenon of certain surfaces that appear gradually to change colour as the angle of view or the angle of illumination changes. Iridescence is caused by wave interference of light in microstruc ...
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. File:Tui adult and young.jpg, Painting of adult and young tūī File:Tui flight 01.jpg, Several photos showing a tūī in flight File:Tui (Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae) Tiritiri Matangi 2.jpg


Distribution and habitat

Tūī are native to New Zealand, and are found throughout the country, particularly the
North Island The North Island ( , 'the fish of Māui', historically New Ulster) is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but less populous South Island by Cook Strait. With an area of , it is the List ...
, the west and south coasts of the
South Island The South Island ( , 'the waters of Pounamu, Greenstone') is the largest of the three major islands of New Zealand by surface area, the others being the smaller but more populous North Island and Stewart Island. It is bordered to the north by ...
,
Stewart Island / Rakiura Stewart Island (, 'Aurora, glowing skies', officially Stewart Island / Rakiura, formerly New Leinster) is New Zealand's third-largest island, located south of the South Island, across Foveaux Strait. It is a roughly triangular island wit ...
and the
Chatham Islands The Chatham Islands ( ; Moriori language, Moriori: , 'Misty Sun'; ) are an archipelago in the Pacific Ocean about east of New Zealand's South Island, administered as part of New Zealand, and consisting of about 10 islands within an approxima ...
, where an endangered sub-species particular to these islands exists. Other populations live on
Raoul Island Raoul Island (''Sunday Island''; ) is the largest and northernmost of the main Kermadec Islands, south south-west of 'Ata Island of Tonga and north north-east of New Zealand's North Island. It has been the source of vigorous volcanic activit ...
in the Kermadecs, and in the
Auckland Islands The Auckland Islands ( Māori: ''Motu Maha'' "Many islands" or ''Maungahuka'' "Snowy mountains") are an archipelago of New Zealand, lying south of the South Island. The main Auckland Island, occupying , is surrounded by smaller Adams Island ...
(where, with the
New Zealand bellbird The New Zealand bellbird (''Anthornis melanura''), also known by its Māori language names korimako, makomako and kōmako, is a medium-sized species of honeyeater Endemism in birds, endemic to New Zealand. It has been the only living member of ...
, it is the most southerly species of honeyeater). Traditionally, Māori ate tūī that had been preserved in calabashes or gourds. Populations have declined considerably since European settlement, mainly as a result of widespread
habitat destruction Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss or habitat reduction) occurs when a natural habitat is no longer able to support its native species. The organisms once living there have either moved elsewhere, or are dead, leading to a decrease ...
and predation by
mammal A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the Class (biology), class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a broad neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair, and three ...
ian
invasive species An invasive species is an introduced species that harms its new environment. Invasive species adversely affect habitats and bioregions, causing ecological, environmental, and/or economic damage. The term can also be used for native spec ...
. Nonetheless, the species is considered secure and has made recoveries in some areas, particularly after removal of livestock has allowed vegetation to recover. Predation by
introduced species An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived ther ...
remains a threat, particularly brushtail possums (which eat eggs and chicks), cats,
stoat The stoat (''Mustela erminea''), also known as the Eurasian ermine or ermine, is a species of mustelid native to Eurasia and the northern regions of North America. Because of its wide circumpolar distribution, it is listed as Least Concern on th ...
s, the
common myna The common myna or Indian myna (''Acridotheres tristis''), sometimes spelled mynah, is a bird in the Family (biology), family Sturnidae, native to Asia. An omnivorous open woodland bird with a strong territorial instinct, the common myna has ada ...
(which competes with tūī for food and sometimes takes eggs), blackbirds, and rats. Tūī prefer
broadleaf forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological functio ...
s at low altitudes, although have been recorded up to 1500 metres. They will tolerate quite small remnant patches, regrowth, exotic plantations and well-vegetated suburbs. They are one of the most common birds found in urban
Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...
. Tūī are usually seen singly, in pairs, or in small family groups, but will congregate in large numbers at suitable food sources, often in company with
silvereye The silvereye or wax-eye (''Zosterops lateralis''), also known by its Māori name tauhou, is a very small omnivorous passerine bird of the south-west Pacific. In Australia and New Zealand its common name is sometimes white-eye, but this name is ...
s, bellbirds, or
kererū The kererū (''Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae''), also known as kūkupa (Māori language#Northern dialects, northern Māori dialects), New Zealand pigeon or wood pigeon, is a species of pigeon native to New Zealand. Johann Friedrich Gmelin describ ...
(New Zealand pigeon) in any combination. Generally, when
interspecific competition Interspecific competition, in ecology, is a form of competition in which individuals of ''different'' species compete for the same resources in an ecosystem (e.g. food or living space). This can be contrasted with mutualism, a type of symbiosis. ...
for the same food resources among New Zealand's two species of honeyeater occurs, there is a hierarchy with the tūī at the top and bellbirds subordinate. The latter are thus frequently chased off by tūī at a food source such as a flowering
flax Flax, also known as common flax or linseed, is a flowering plant, ''Linum usitatissimum'', in the family Linaceae. It is cultivated as a food and fiber crop in regions of the world with temperate climates. In 2022, France produced 75% of t ...
plant.


Behaviour and ecology

Male tūī can be extremely aggressive, chasing all other birds (large and small) from their
territory A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, belonging or connected to a particular country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually a geographic area which has not been granted the powers of self-government, ...
with loud flapping and sounds akin to rude human speech. This is especially true of other tūī when possession of a favoured feeding tree is impinged. Birds will often erect their body feathers in order to appear larger in an attempt to intimidate a rival. They have even been known to mob harriers and magpies. The powered flight of tūī is quite loud as they have developed short wide wings, giving excellent maneuverability in the dense forest they prefer, but requiring rapid flapping. They can be seen to perform a mating display of rising at speed in a vertical climb in clear air, before stalling and dropping into a powered dive, then repeating. Much of this behaviour is more notable during the breeding season of early spring—September and October. Females alone build nests of twigs, grasses and mosses.


Feeding

Nectar Nectar is a viscous, sugar-rich liquid produced by Plant, plants in glands called nectaries, either within the flowers with which it attracts pollination, pollinating animals, or by extrafloral nectaries, which provide a nutrient source to an ...
is the normal diet but fruit and insects are frequently eaten, and
pollen Pollen is a powdery substance produced by most types of flowers of seed plants for the purpose of sexual reproduction. It consists of pollen grains (highly reduced Gametophyte#Heterospory, microgametophytes), which produce male gametes (sperm ...
and seeds more occasionally. Particularly popular is the
New Zealand flax New Zealand flax describes the common New Zealand perennial plants ''Phormium tenax'' and '' Phormium colensoi'', known by the Māori names ''harakeke'' and ''wharariki'' respectively. Although given the common name 'flax' they are quite disti ...
, whose nectar sometimes ferments, resulting in the tūī flying in a fashion that suggests that they might be drunk. They are the main
pollinator A pollinator is an animal that moves pollen from the male anther of a flower to the female carpel, stigma of a flower. This helps to bring about fertilization of the ovules in the flower by the male gametes from the pollen grains. Insects are ...
s of
flax Flax, also known as common flax or linseed, is a flowering plant, ''Linum usitatissimum'', in the family Linaceae. It is cultivated as a food and fiber crop in regions of the world with temperate climates. In 2022, France produced 75% of t ...
,
kōwhai Kōwhai ( or ) are small woody legume trees within the genus '' Sophora'', in the family Fabaceae, that are native to New Zealand. There are eight species, with '' Sophora microphylla'' and '' Sophora tetraptera'' being large trees. Their natu ...
, kaka beak and some other plants. Note that the flowers of the three plants mentioned are similar in shape to the tūī's beak—a vivid example of mutualistic
coevolution In biology, coevolution occurs when two or more species reciprocally affect each other's evolution through the process of natural selection. The term sometimes is used for two traits in the same species affecting each other's evolution, as well a ...
.


Breeding

The large untidy shallow cup-shaped nest is built by both sexes, but the female does most of the work. The eggs usually have a pale pink or white background with blotches of pale red mostly at the larger end. The clutch is usually 4 eggs and the average size of an eggs is . The eggs are incubated by the female alone for 14 days. Both sexes feed the young and remove the faecal sacs. The chicks fledge after around 20 days. The parents continue to feed the fledglings for another couple of weeks. The birds are nidicolous.


Songs and calls

Tūī are known for their noisy, unusual, sometimes soulful calls, different for each individual, that combine bellbird-like notes with clicks, cackles, timber-like creaks and groans, and wheezing sounds. Tūī have a complex variety of songs and calls, much like
parrot Parrots (Psittaciformes), also known as psittacines (), are birds with a strong curved beak, upright stance, and clawed feet. They are classified in four families that contain roughly 410 species in 101 genus (biology), genera, found mostly in ...
s. They also resemble parrots in their ability to clearly imitate human speech, and were trained by Māori to replicate complex speech. They also re-create sounds like glass shattering, car alarms, classical music and advertising jingles. All birds have a sound producing organ called a
syrinx In classical Greek mythology, Syrinx () was an Arcadian nymph and a follower of Artemis, known for her chastity. Being pursued by Pan, she fled into the river Ladon, and at her own request was metamorphosed into a reed from which Pan then mad ...
, which is typically controlled with two sets of muscles. Songbirds or
passerines A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped') which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines generally have an anisodactyl arrangement of their ...
like tūī have nine pairs of muscles giving them the ability to produce much more complex vocalisations, and they can be seen to be very physically involved with their songs. Their dual voice box allow tūī to make two sounds at the same time. Tūī song also exhibits geographical, microgeographic, seasonal, sex and individual variation. Tūī will also sing at night, especially around the full moon period.


Gallery

File:Tūī feeding on Harakeke nectar (6570554993).jpg, Tūī feeding on harakeke File:Tui standing on top of kowhai in full flower.jpg, Tūī on
kōwhai Kōwhai ( or ) are small woody legume trees within the genus '' Sophora'', in the family Fabaceae, that are native to New Zealand. There are eight species, with '' Sophora microphylla'' and '' Sophora tetraptera'' being large trees. Their natu ...
File:Juvenile tui perched on a branch, singing.jpg, Juvenile tūī File:Tui perched on top of kowhai branch full of flowers with green background.jpg, Tūī on
kōwhai Kōwhai ( or ) are small woody legume trees within the genus '' Sophora'', in the family Fabaceae, that are native to New Zealand. There are eight species, with '' Sophora microphylla'' and '' Sophora tetraptera'' being large trees. Their natu ...
File:Tui feeding upside down.jpg, Tūī feeding on red hot poker File:A Tui Peeking Through the Kowhai Flowers.jpg, Tūī amongst
kōwhai Kōwhai ( or ) are small woody legume trees within the genus '' Sophora'', in the family Fabaceae, that are native to New Zealand. There are eight species, with '' Sophora microphylla'' and '' Sophora tetraptera'' being large trees. Their natu ...
File:Tui 06.jpg, Feathers fluffed up and calling File:Juvenile tui being fed by parent.jpg, Parent feeding juvenile File:Tui vs kaka.ogv, Tūī defending a food source from a much larger
kākā The New Zealand kākā (''Nestor meridionalis'') is a large species of parrot of the family New Zealand parrot, Strigopidae found in New Zealand, New Zealand's native forests across the three main Islands of New Zealand. The species is often kn ...
parrot File:Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae vocalizations.ogv, A short video of tūī vocalisations


References


Sources

*


External links


Prosthemaderas Novæ Zealandiæ — (Tui or Parson Bird)
From ''A History of the Birds of New Zealand'' by
Walter Buller Sir Walter Lawry Buller (9 October 1838 – 19 July 1906) was a New Zealand lawyer and naturalist who was a dominant figure in New Zealand ornithology. His book, ''A History of the Birds of New Zealand'', first published in 1873, was published ...

Tui – New Zealand native land birds
Department of Conservation *
Kiwi Wildlife tours Sound gallery
(MP3 link) Comparison can be made with the bellbird song through this page. {{Taxonbar, from=Q125142 Talking birds Endemic birds of New Zealand Meliphagidae Birds of the Chatham Islands Birds described in 1788 Fauna of the Auckland Islands Articles containing video clips Taxa named by Johann Friedrich Gmelin