A Tui’s Nest Right Under my Nose

Since the beginning of spring, I have been on the lookout for a Tui nest as this important period of the Tui’s life cycle is critical for the project I’ve been working on over the last couple of years.

I had put the word out with everyone I know, asking them all to keep their eyes peeled. My friends, Ian & Jenny Gamble (Bushy Point Fernbirds) and Chris & Brian Rance (Southland Community Nursery) have all done an incredible amount of restoration work on their beautiful native bush properties and regularly trap for ground predators, were going to be the place I’d find one I thought. I called Russell & May Evans (Bush Haven Bird Rescue) who tirelessly work at rehabilitating injured native birds and have a good amount of mature native bush on their land and I met with Bill Bell who had a documentary team filming a Tui’s nest at his property just a few years back.

Unfortunately no one had seen anything and as time was getting on, I had all but given up hope of ever finding one. But one day recently while marking some trees for the chop (I’m replanting in natives), I discovered a pair of Tui building a nest right here under my nose. And it’s in an Oak tree of all places too. Unbelievable!!