This is a single photo post as it’s important to me. The Tui is my personal favourite of our native birds in New Zealand. They aren’t particularly rare but they are particularly beautiful and full of character. The song of the Tui is one of the things most missed by New Zealanders abroad and is one of the defining sounds of New Zealand. Given the range of sounds the Tui makes, you can’t really call it a song as much as a vocalisation.

The challenge in photographing a Tui is capturing one in full sunlight, with the sun on the Tui’s back. Then you can see the extraordinary colours and plumage of what I believe should be our national bird rather than the Kiwi. Surprisingly, many New Zealanders and visitors to New Zealand still think the Tui is predominantly black with just a white tuft of feathers under its chin. The Tui is not black.

This is the photo I’ve been trying to get for years. The Tui in full sun with the added bonus of a beak full of nectar from the flowering flax they love so much.

The Tui