Tuis and Kowhais

New Zealand Listener, Volume 3, Issue 66, 27 September 1940, Page 5

Tuis and Kowhais

"[ HE third term of my talk, "The Gold," refers \" to the kowhai’s blooms which, during August and September, are a glorious sight where the trees are growing in clumps on the hillsides or singly in private gardens. The flowering of the kowhai is worth travelling a long way to see. The trees are

then heavy with their rich amber blossoms, which are ravished for their sweet contents by the tuis. These, throughout the winter, have probably had a fairly thin time. The birds attack the kowhai flowers with a kind of fierce gaiety, with gurglings and chortlings, and sudden anvyil-like notes. There is an occasional bell or flute tune, or a burst of baritone bells, as the birds break

open the clustering blooms. They seem almost drunk with the delicious and long-awaited banquet, while all the air is full of silvery sounds, There is plenty of evidence that these handsome and historic native birds are now holding their own, if not increasing, everywhere. They have reacted strongly from the first impact of the white man on their natural foodbearing trees, and are now finding suitable food in flowers such as those of the Australian scarlet gums, blue gums, barberry, and wattle-("The Kowhai Trees, the Tuis, and the Gold," by E. J. Kehoe, 4YA August 30).