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It's spring, the kowhai is in flower and our garden is full of tui. I always enjoy this time of year watching the verious antics of the tui as they gorge themselves on nectar and then chase each other around at high speed through the trees and swooping out low over the ground. Every season, there's nearly always one tui that tries to claim a tree as it's own territory and spends its time chasing away all comers. Typically it will keep this behaviour up for two or three days before it gets overwh …

It's my favourite time of year again when the cherries are in flower and we have flocks of tui coming into the garden.  This morning we had over 20 tui in the cherry trees having a great old time feeding on the nectar, singing and chasing each other around the garden. There was also a small flock of silvereye in one of the trees. The silvereye are always a bit weary since the tui will regulalary chase them away. They disapear in to the thick growth of some nearby camelias then sneak ba …

I managed to fit in a quick trip to Zealandia on a recent weekend visit to Wellington. I didn't have much time but Zealandia never disappoints. Apart from getting some wonderful sitings of rare native birds (tieke, hihi and kaka) the birdsong alone makes any visit to Zealandia worthwhile for me. I was very lucky to see a pair of tieke (saddleback) feeding their almost fully grown young.Just as the tieke moved off this tui came and landed right beside me in the flax.Then I had an amazing mom …

It's that time of year again when the cherries and kowhai are in flower and our garden is full of tui getting drunk on nectar and chasing each other about with the males constantly puffing themselves up and singing, putting on a display for the females. We often have 30 or 40 tui in the garden at a time fillling the air with their beautiful resonant notes and intermittent squawks. It's my favorite time of year with so much fresh colour in the garden and the constant activity of the tuis as they …

It's still officially winter, but the cherries have blossomed early and it seems like spring. The garden is full of birds with 30 or 40 tui in the cherry trees drinking nectar and chasing each other around. The tui are very territorial and defend the cherry trees chasing other birds out. A game of chase has developed between the tui and the silvereye.The tui tend to feed in the top of the tree and the silvereye keep sneaking into the bottom branches until the tui spot them and chase them out. Th …