Show us some bird shots ...7

Message Topic Search Topic Options Post Reply Create New Topic Printable Version Translate Topic

   To start a new series off, here are two shots of the New Zealand Tui.

And the story about these pics as originally posted in Open Views....

These photos were extinct, not the bird. 

I have been moving files about on my various hard drives and found some pics from my early days with the 70-200 SSM that for some reason I had never processed. (I think it was because I had a theme in mind which they were not part of.)

The huia is an iconic New Zealand bird. One authority says: "The Tui is the one endemic bird to have survived and even thrived in the presence of humans on these islands. They have entered our national consciousness like no other New Zealand bird, not even the Kiwi whom we rarely see or even hear these days. The Tui has become very much an intimate part of our daily lives, whereas so many other birds have languished and died out or stayed away in the deep bush and shunned our presence."

The tui looks black but in the light has green, bluish-purple and bronze colouring, lacy collar of white filaments and white throat tufts, black legs and curved black bill, white wing bar.

They are the dominant honey eaters in New Zealand, aggressive and pugnacious, and will chase other Tuis and other birds, especially Korimako, the bellbird, from their feeding territory. They fly at great speeds, the wings whirring characteristically, the loud and noisy flying caused by a notch in the eighth primary that makes the wing tips flutter.

It was with great joy that I recently discovered that the house I recently moved to is part of the patch of a relatively young tui.

For more info go to New Zealand Birds and do listen to its song by clicking the link there.

So, two bird shots that may have become extinct had it not been for my computer housekeeping. You  don't know how excited I feel, as my "local" has always avoided me.