Spying on a Tui Nest

by Geoff Moon (wildlife photographer)
Extract from Focus on New Zealand Birds

The first tui nest I photographed was about 6m above ground in a tall manuka. I built a hide in easy stages 2m away.

I started observation on the 14th day of incubation, when two of the three eggs had hatched. The female tui returned to the nest immediately taking not the least notice of the hide or camera lens, and at once settled to brood while her mate started singing a short distance away.  Within 10 minutes she quietly left the nest but returned in 2 minutes and fed the tiny chicks, her tongue moving in and out very rapidly during the process.  She then cleaned the interior of the nest and settled to brood again.

During the day she fed the young on an average of once every 12 minutes and was never away from the nest for longer than 2 minutes on each occasion.  Once, the male bird called her from the nest and she joined him on a tree 12m away, where he fed her.  She quickly returned and fed the chicks, afterwards cleaning the nest and eating the excreta.

Later in the day the third egg hatched.  She gently removed the half eggshell, dropped it 20m away, and returned to the brood.  It was more than 20 minutes later before she removed the remainder of the eggshell.

During the first four days the male tui did not actually visit the nest.  But as the young developed, the female tui was often absent for periods of up to 12 minutes, and then the male bird sometimes came to feed the chicks.  He always appeared to be in a hurry and he made no attempt to clean the nest or dispose of excreta.

This particular brood unfortunately met with disaster.  The female tui was brooding the chicks, now five days old, when a family of magpies began noisily working their way in the direction of the nest, uttering their usual whistling calls.  The brooding tui became very alert, stood up, and then left the nest when the magpies were about 20m away and flew to a tree some distance behind the hide, where she crouched motionless and silent.  This behaviour surprised me in view of the tui's usual pugnacious nature.

One magpie spotted the nest and alighted on a branch above it, gazing down at the chicks, but I frightened it away as it was about to fly down to the nest, and the female tui returned and brooded as soon as the coast was clear.  However, within half an hour three magpies returned to the scene and the whole performance was repeated, the tui again retreating in silence.  This time I left the hide and thoroughly scared away the marauders, who did not return again that day.  When I left the hide that evening I concealed the nest with extra branches of manuka, but when I returned next day the nest was empty.