The bellbird

THE BELLBIRD


The bellbird is a member of the honeyeater family, and as such has a curved bill and a long tongue, frayed at the end like a brush, which is used to reach deeply into flowers and drink nectar. Like the other two New Zealand honeyeaters, the Tui and the Stitchbird, they feed on a mixture of nectar, fruit, and insects.  The male bellbird is a dark olive green, paler on underparts, with a glossy purple head. The female has a similar plumage but none of the purple gloss and has a narrow white stripe across the cheek from the bill. Both Female and male have red eyes.  The juveniles are like the female but have brown eyes and the cheek stripe is yellowish. Bellbirds have a short curved bill and slightly forked tail. The bellbird is named for the bell-like quality of it's song and when many birds sing at once, mostly during the dawn chorus and at dusk, the famous bell notes are impressive.  The song consists of loud clear liquid ringing notes interspersed with grunts and wheezes, not dissimilar to the Tui's grunts and wheezes but slightly more refined. The alarm call is a loud harsh note repeated very rapidly.Bellbirds have always existed on Tiritiri Matangi and the population continues to grow every year.   They have flown across to the Whangaparaoa Peninsula from Tiritiri Matangi and have been observed to be breeding in Manly.

Maori body parts

MAORI BODY PARTS

The Parakeet

The New Zealand Parakeet

This is a parakeet it is a beautiful forest bird

that is native to New Zealand.

The Red-crowned parakeet, commonly known by its Maori name kakariki, is a long tailed bright green parrot with a red crown and forehead and a band of red which extends from the bill through the eye and beyond. It has crimson rump patches and bright blue on its wing coverts and some outer flight feathers.

Kakariki are very rare in the North Island, though this wasn't always the case. They were common in the 1880s but introduced predators such as feral cats, stoats and ship rats decimated the population. They are even rarer on the South Island, but are widespread on Stewart Island and many predator-free island reserves, including Tiritiri Matangi.