First Time Vistor

Back from Akaroa...

We had a shower of rain in the morning and it looked very gloomy. Just as we were leaving John asked me what was the black bird in the garden. I noticed it was a Tui. The first time I had ever seen on in my garden. The shot isn't great as when I went outside to get a shot he hid up into the tree. You can see a shot of him/there with their head showing in may extra shot. A leaf is hiding its face in this shot but thought it was the better of the two shots I got before it took off.

Tūī disappeared from Banks Peninsula about 20 years ago, apart from occasional sightings of individual birds.  In 2007 a group of people started planning to bring back tūī to Banks Peninsula, to see this iconic bird returned, with the hope of developing a successfully breeding population of tūī. Translocation of tūī to a new habitat on mainland New Zealand had never been attempted before. A Tūī Restoration Group was formed and started fund-raising, predator-trapping, and preparing a release site for the transfer of tūī.

We were told by a local that the tūī are bleeding well and it is good to see them back again in numbers.

I have put up all my back shots from Akaora if you would like to see them. Thank you very much for your comments, stars and hearts. I will try and catch up as soon as I can.