birdies

these images are ours. this is a copyright notice. theyre special to us

thoughts about them

tūī are really loud and really fast biridies and they really like nectar

the kinda call they make seems to vary on the location

photographing them is kinda hard cuz of how fast they are. there is an area near us where they will just fly straight at you and it's impossible to react to and really scary!

they fly around a lot and we've seen them flying together with other tūī as well as weaving through trees and going over forests rather than through.

my feelings abou them

kererū are our best friend!!!! i love them so much and they love me too

when they want to see me they go "coo, coo~" really softly and i lvoe it

when they fall ouot of a tree they go FWOMP FWOMP FWOMP FWOMP (deep) ehHEHHEHE

they REALLY like eating and sometijmes eat so much they dont know how to fly with extra weight and fall over and also berries ferment in their gizzards and make them drunk and also the way they waddle sneakily to get their favourite berries LOOK (video)

information about them

kererū is a massive pigeon in new zealand aotearoa, and they are all across the islands. some of their feathers near their neck and back are iridescent and when under certain light they have a soft gradient between strong green and purple feathers that shimmer.

the fwomping and cooing sounds they make are magical , and at least for us we feel blessed when they are in our presence.

kererū are very clumsy pigeons. they are known to fumble and fall out of trees!! how,,,

they are very important for aotearoa ecology !! they're the only birdie still alive that can munch munch on the largest berries. this is important, cuz birds are how berry seeds spread.

when they flirt, they freefall!! living on one side of the valley, you see kererū fly from the high part of the valley and they pitch up so they stall over the valley!!

kererū will hang out in a single tree for very long periods of time, and are relatively low energy creatures. we think they can happily spend hours in a tree, especially with their partner, and if there are flowers and berries to eat. part of their clumsiness is just from forgetting their own weight!!

kererū can get soooo heavy, probably like 700g, but because they gain a lot of this weight during a single perch, they don't realise how much differently they need to fly !!

also cuz they are so heavy, they need to get the thick and strong branches in a tree, which means they sometimes need to fly further into a tree than other birds do. this creates a loud rustling noise. they also make some branches sag so much that they need to perch vertically, since they're weight and momentum will bend the branch into a horizontal position!

when they jump from branch to branch, they also make a ton of sound, at least when they need to use their wings. their non winged hops are so adorable.

how to find them

for a while we thought that kererū just prefered more open areas, since we only ever seemed to find them in sparse bush or in suburban areas.

we thought this until fairly recently, when we were in a birdy looking forest group and someone said there was a kererū above us. they were sitting there, silently, for several minutes, before someone noticed them. one of the people with us pointed out as like a joke how kererū could be perched right next to you for hours and you might never notice. this was a good learning experience!

kererū don't really make birdcalls, the only vocal sound we've heard them make is the gentle cooing, and its not very loud or noticeable. and they seem to do it very infrequently. we most often hear it when Kererū is communicating with their partner.

when looking for birds, a big important part of it is listening for birds. this is really hard with kererū since they dont make birdcalls!

well

unless you hear them flying.
the sound they make when flying is a deep FWOMP FWOMP FWOMP. it is very loud and distinctive. also, since they are so large and heavy, they need to get on the strong branches, which are usually closer into a tree's trunk, which means they make rustle the leaves on the way there!!

but, this doesn't happen that often. Kererū are very happy to perch for long periods and go unnoticed. We really wanna photograph them more in mid flight, but they fly so infrequently. and, when they do fly, the sound of them flying is usually what makes us realise they are there in the first place, and so our camera isn't ready!!