NEW ZEALAND'S NATIVE BIRDS

Hi, this page has been made to talk about New Zealand's native birds. I hope you enjoy it.

The Tui

The Tui is a honey eating bird that is a blackish-green colour with white throat tufts. The young birds are black with a greyish-white patch on the throat. It has a long curved beak to help it get nectar out of flowers. It eats insects, fruit and nectar. Its call sometimes sounds like a telephone and they make a lot of noise while flying. It often sings.

The male Tui is a bit bigger then the female and has slightly bigger throat tufts. Its length is about 32 centimetres.
Its nest is usually built on a forked branch. Its nest is a structure of of sticks and twigs. Its lining is of treefern scales, moss and a couple of feathers. It lays 2 to 4 white, pale pink or red blotched eggs.

Black Robin

This small bird once nearly died out with only 5 left. Conservation efforts saved this bird by making one, known as Old Blue, lay eggs over and over again by taking the eggs to be raised elsewhere then returned. Old Blue lived for about sixty years before dying. Newspapers all over the world told of this.

Kiwi

There are a few breeds of this bird, the Great Spotted Kiwi, the Little Spotted kiwi and the North Island Brown Kiwi. There are two sub-species, the South Island Brown Kiwi and the Stewart Island Brown Kiwi. This bird comes in different sizes and is featured on New Zealand notes and coins. It nests in holes protected with plants and eats slugs, worms, weta and sometimes crabs. The bird is flightless. On of the reasons it is unique is it is the only bird to have nostrils on the end of its beak to smell its food.


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This page continually under construction by Cara Pollock from information in her head.
Last Updated:
Thursday, 22 January 1998
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