Stoat vs tui chick

[Brent Stephenson]

Hi all,

Well another day out on the hills near Porangahau (Hawkes Bay) doing bird counts today. The most interesting sighting today was of a little furry blur running along, and realising it was an adult stoat, less than 10m from me. It was running down through a stream-bed and was carrying something large in its mouth. I realised it was actually a tui chick, and this accounted for the tui alarm calls I had been hearing for the last wee while. I suspect the bird was an early fledger, it looked about the size that you sometimes see them having left the nest, and perhaps was on or near the ground. I would have thought tui nests would generally be out of reach to these guys, even though they are incredible climbers.

I watched it head down the stream bed, and go out of sight about 100m away. It sure could cover some ground on its little short legs though! Even though they are possibly one of NZs worst introductions, they are amazing little animals when seen this close.

Cheers,

[Neil Fitzgerald]

I've seen plenty of tui nests within easy reach of a stoat. Like you say though, they are particularly vulnerable around fledging — they make too much noise and act real stupid.