By: Blonde Two

Luckily Mr Blonde Two knows what a Tui is or I imagine that this blog title would be getting me into lots of trouble here on the other side of the world.  He also knows because he has been here too that, when I am at the farm in New Zealand, I love to take lots of showers.

The reason for this is not a heightened level of dirtiness although mucking around the garden and playing with the cows can lead to increased mud levels.  No, the reason I love to shower here is that my shower is positioned so that I can open the sliding door and feel like I am outside with all of the birds (and there are a lot of them).  Here is a photo of the view of the fabulous cherry trees that I can see from my shower.

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The cherry trees are getting more and more beautiful every day and, at shower time, are full of the wonderful bird that is the New Zealand Tui (two-ee).  You are more likely to hear a Tui in the garden than see one.  They make the most wonderful range of sounds, all very cheeky and beyond my abilities of description – click below to hear them.

 

I can’t hear a Tui without smiling, they whirr around the trees and follow you across the garden but if you get a camera out, they will disappear immediately.  I have spent many happy hours watching them, from the shower and other places, and the photo below is the only one I have ever managed to take.  Their black feathers have a shiny blue tint to them and they have a little white tuft under their chins.

Tui

This year I have been trying to feed the Tuis to tempt them nearer to the house. They are nectar feeders and are reported to like sugar water – I followed instructions and even tied a colourful ribbon near to my feeder to make them think flowery thoughts but have seen no close-up Tuis yet.  Interestingly the feeder was empty when we got back from our beach trip.  Either Norm has some very hungry ants or the Tuis had a feast while my back was turned.  Like I said, they are very cheeky.  There is one particularly naughty Tui who likes to chase all of the others out of the tree – I have christened it Blonde Tui (see what I did there?)