Tui migration, daily over winter months.

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Ruru01
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Joined: Thu Nov 14, 2019 1:08 pm

Tui migration, daily over winter months.

Postby Ruru01 » Thu Sep 16, 2021 7:58 pm

Hi over the last few years I stumbled across a path that Tui in the Palmerston North area use to migrate each evening to the hills 8-10km away mainly over winter depending on the local weather conditions. If it's a head wind they will be low up to 300m high depending on wind speed using the terrain to stay out of the strongest gusts or if it's a tail wind they could be up to 500m up. I'm recording what zone they use, hight, flock size, time to sunset and weather conditions with the intention of wrighting a paper. The main peak occurs in the last hour before sunset, they are then seen returning towards Palmerston North the following morning but I'm not surveying them then. I have personally seen Tui do something similar at Lake Rotorua staying overnight on Makoia island and Phil Battley who I'm working with, knowing what to look for has seen then up the Kawhatau valley (Rangitikei catchment) heading to the Ruahine Ranges. Over the very recent past I've been counting 200-580 Tui each night with a average flock size of 2-3.
I'm after any similar sightings any of you might have seen to add to the wright up as I suspect it occurs nationwide if Tui are present.
Thanks in advance,
Cleland Wallace
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Neil Fitzgerald
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Re: Tui migration, daily over winter months.

Postby Neil Fitzgerald » Thu Sep 16, 2021 8:57 pm

When we were radio tracking tui in the Waikato in 2005-07, we would often see similar to what you describe. Around sunset, noisy groups of birds would climb high then head to the forest area where they would roost, such as Pirongia. Not all birds we tracked would make these movements though. More recently we see some large congregations of hundreds of tui in some large rural gardens that most likely come from Maungatautari. Seeing these move back up the hill en masse in the evenings would be quite a sight.
Ruru01
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu Nov 14, 2019 1:08 pm

Re: Tui migration, daily over winter months.

Postby Ruru01 » Sat Sep 18, 2021 1:38 pm

Thanks Neil, I'd thought it was likely to happen at Pirongia and Maungataitari. The main valley they head to here is parallel to the prevailing winds so must add protection from the worst of the wind and it's also got predator control. The size of flocks vary a lot but I've seen up to 40, looking at the data there seems to be a correlation between temperature and flock size with cooler temps having bigger flocks.
C.

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