Tūī - New Zealand Bird of the Week

Tūī are raucous and brightly songbirds that have among the most complicated and astounding songs of any bird in the country. I hope you enjoy.
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Picturesque - Alex Arcoleo
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Art used in the video by Judi Miller: www.artbyjlm.com
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All video/game content is recorded and edited under fair use rights for reasons of commentary and social satire

[@AntoekneeDE]

The speech mimicry of this species is incredible and was totally new to me. Thank you

[@HenrythePaleoGuy]

Sure is! Thanks for watching! :)

[@ecurewitz]

I was very impressed

[@minted1841]

Such majestic birds. Clip of the talking Tui was surprising & funny :)

[@HenrythePaleoGuy]

Sure are! Many thanks for watching! Incredible how much range they have.

[@The_PokeSaurus]

Their voice mimicry is rather scary. But the Pizza Hut one makes it funny too.

[@HenrythePaleoGuy]

It's certainly uncanny! Almost like they're possessed or something. I'd certainly love to hear that in person!

[@wendychavez5348]

In the first or second sound clip I heard it meowing-- that plucked my heartstrings!

[@GeorgeTheDinoGuy]

Rest in peace Woof Woof, Tūī are just amazing birds and it’d be cool to see more research into their amazing intelligence and social structure. I’m so glad they’re still prevailing in some places in New Zealand, this has been one of my favourite videos of yours :)

[@HenrythePaleoGuy]

Indeed. Such a remarkable individual. Lived to 16 as well, so one of the longest-lived birds of their species known! And definitely, still, so much we can learn about them and their culture. And much appreciated!

[@ceruleanclouds5871]

Thanks for the video .

[@Susie_Floozie]

Now, that's an epic-looking bird! The colors are gorgeous, and those delicate feather whiskers are charming features. And they MIMIC SPEECH, too!?! These birds are real winners!

[@wendychavez5348]

Gorgeous! As are all creatures in NZ, including humans.

[@peterherbert7824]

I heard a story of a radio / TV personality who had his office up stairs and there land line phone down stairs and everytime he sat down his phone would ring so he would go down stairs and it would stop . It took him a long time to realize it was a tui imitating the phone .😂😂

[@purplehaze2358]

Wow, these birds are gorgeous.

[@kaisahfx1246]

woof woof, my hero

[@paulg3336]

I have a local Tūī that is extremely aggressive. I once saw him chase a swallow , staying 75mm of the swallow's tail and flying 100mm above the surface of a roof. It was like watching an airliner matching a fighter jet in maneuoverability. I have also seen the same bird fly a 1m diameter loop around a tree branch - and they do it all at maximum . Fantastic flyers

[@wendychavez5348]

Wow!

[@qwertyuiopgarth]

I need to learn some more about this species! I hadn't known that a species of songbird was capable of all that!

[@HenrythePaleoGuy]

I'll be sure to make more videos covering these animals and more at a later point. :)

[@qwertyuiopgarth]

Excellent! The wildlife of New Zealand is fascinating.

[@stephenking4170]

The most incredible thing about the quality of the tui speech is that anybody who knows Robert Webb would recognise this voice as Robert. It would be interesting to hear the same bird learn to mimic a different person's voice.

[@peckser5alltheway]

They look like they have evolved from European starlings, and have a similar voice when mimicking human speech. Fascinating video

[@kuitaranheatmorus9932]

This bird is so cool

[@lindaroberts2297]

Thank you:))) - l loved this, so informative & you have a great voice -

[@HenrythePaleoGuy]

I really appreciate it!

[@FacesintheStone]

Love the BotW, iridescent green is so kool.

[@HenrythePaleoGuy]

Much appreciated! I love making them. Sure are beautiful colours!

[@patrick247two]

Thank you. Very informative. I did not know of the macrons in this birds name. Helps with pronunciation too. I have a flax growing in my yard, the nectar of which the Tūī enjoy greatly. Earlier this year a Tūī came, with a chick, to visit the flax. There was no nectar available, so I think the elder was showing the youth the feeding places. I have propagated some seeds of the flax, which I will plant out. The more the better.

[@HenrythePaleoGuy]

Thank you! And they sure can! Must have been cool to see! :) And good on you for helping out with the plantings! Be sure to keep them randomly spaced. :)

[@finlayson]

The macrons are really only if you're writing in the Maori language (and in this case, they make no real difference to the pronunciation). In English, the bird's name is usually just written "tui".

[@paulg3336]

They also like the flowers of various aloes and Red Hot Pokers (Kniphofia)

[@patrick247two]

@@finlayson The addition of a macron indicates a long vowel which changes the way the word is pronounced. English can spell any word any way they want, but we are speaking about Te Reo here.

[@finlayson]

@@patrick247two I wasn't talking about Te Reo; I was talking about English, where the common spelling is "tui"

[@ProfessionalBadPerson]

Rip Woof Woof

[@HenrythePaleoGuy]

RIP indeed...

[@graphite2786]

Been waiting for this one Henry 😁 Tūī were the first New Zealand bird i ever saw, they reminded me so much of the Australian wattle birds and friar birds ( also big honeyeaters). Never knew about their mimicry tho, Woofwoof certainly put a smile on my face! It's so pleasing to see a NZ species surviving colonization, it be wonderful to see and hear tīeke and kōkako in suburbia too one day!

[@HenrythePaleoGuy]

Been a long time coming! And indeed, Woof Wood and his vocals really are awesome. I hope so on that front regarding birds like that being more commonly seen. Zealandia is the closest thing to far, and it’s having great results. Predator control really will be key!

[@henkvandergaast3948]

@@HenrythePaleoGuy I have a visiting wattle bird and all he does is scream for food and rifle through my hair

[@asoncalledvoonch2210]

These birds are basically the O'o of New Zealand

[@tonkinthehanoian1843]

How so?

[@Alberad08]

As always, many thanks for creating & sharing these! BTW prior to this, I didn't even know about the existence of this remarkable animal.

[@SnarkNSass]

Gorgeous 🥰

[@HenrythePaleoGuy]

Sure are!

[@riverAmazonNZ]

You do hear them much more on Banks Peninsula now. It’s good.

[@HenrythePaleoGuy]

Thankfully! Noticing them a lot more in Canterbury now too. Saw my first one here in 2020, and have heard/seen a good few more now since then. Appear to be establishing more now, which is excellent.

[@tehsma]

Love it!

[@HenrythePaleoGuy]

Thank you! They're very cool birds indeed. :)

[@LatentHeat69]

Thank you

[@HenrythePaleoGuy]

You're welcome!

[@kaltneta6704]

9:40 oh, that's sad. But also cute and cool, but still sad.

[@pal5488]

Woof woof

[@Losaru]

First thing I see with that plummage is Skeksis

[@HenrythePaleoGuy]

Them without feathers would certainly resemble them!

[@ray1956]

Great video topic It is pointless to resist. TALK NERDY to me👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿😃👨🏿‍⚕️👨🏿‍⚕️👀👀

[@ecurewitz]

They look like the grackles native to America

[@DailyFreaks]

Was blessed to visit NZ for the first time in a long time last fall. The people and the scenery are both lovely but the tui and the magpies are the biggest cunts I’ve met in a long time.

[@kaltneta6704]

I wonder if Woof Woof would have sounded different if another person took care of him.

[@mikejones-go8vz]

Yes, he would’ve

[@afatpossum2586]

Imagine teaching a bunch of these how to talk and then releasing them into the wild.

[@HenrythePaleoGuy]

It's certainly possible! We could have a whole population of eminem rap gods out there, and it wouldn't be unreasonable at all.

[@Skyypixelgamer]

And I thought only crows,parrots, and starlings could talk

[@HenrythePaleoGuy]

Lyrebirds too! It's remarkable how well they can talk!

[@finlayson]

Just FYI - almost nobody uses the Maori alphabet when writing "tui" in English

[@HenrythePaleoGuy]

It's becoming more common to do so, so I'm keeping with that. The International Ornithologists' Union does have a policy of not using accents, though.

[@nicksweeney5176]

Firrrrst...!!!

[@HenrythePaleoGuy]

Enjoy the video!

[@nicksweeney5176]

@@HenrythePaleoGuy Oh, but didn't I?!👍🏻👍🏻 My sincerest heartfelt thanks to you, Hank. This one pulled upon and well played every vein in the Heart of me.