'Tūī Corridor' planned to bring the native bird back to Christchurch

Wednesday, 23 September 2020

There are generally no tūī in Christchurch, but one has been filmed enjoying a feeder in the hillside suburb of Mt Pleasant. (Video first published April 2020)

An ambitious project aiming to bring tūī song back into Christchurch will launch by planting 3000 natives in the Port Hills on Friday..

The Tūī Corridor aims to set up a chain of food sources and habitat to provide a pathway for the native bird to move back into the central city.

Tūī are thriving on Banks Peninsula, but are a rare visitor in Christchurch. There has not been an established population in the city for decades.

Tūī were common in Christchurch decades ago but are no longer seen in the central city. (File photo)

The project, a partnership between Meridian Energy and the Christchurch Foundation, will provide the trees for staff and students from Te Pā o Rākaihautū school and Meridian customers to plant at the Christchurch Adventure Park.

* Signs the elusive tūī may slowly be returning to Canterbury

A Tūī spotted using a feeder at Mt Pleasant in Christchurch in April this year.

Christchurch Foundation chief executive Amy Carter said islands of tūī vegetation would be planted in the central city in the next few months. Future sites are being identified also.

“Having tūī as regular visitors to the city once again is something all of us can look forward to.

The Tūī Corridor aims to set up a chain of food sources and habitat to provide a pathway for the native bird to move back into the central city. (File photo).

“The more residents that plant tūī tucker in their backyards, the more successful the project will be.”

Laura Molles, an ecologist who volunteers for the Banks Peninsula Tūī Restoration Group, said the project was a step in the right direction but a lot more work needed to be done.

For the birds to really thrive they needed forested areas, which would take much longer to build up.

Molles said most of the tūī sightings within the city had been made in Victoria Park, Huntsbury, Mt Pleasant and other suburbs close to the Port Hills.

'Tūī will travel huge distances outside of their breeding season. They're wandering around they're finding little scattered food and plants that happen to be flowering … that's just part of their natural behaviour.'

She said rats, cats, possums and stoats continued to be a major problem when trying to increase tūī and other native bird populations in the area.

'I love cats but I personally think they should be kept inside, and if we're trying to recreate habitats for birds in the city we're going to have to start thinking about that.'

Meridian renewable development programme manager Mark Harris said how long the project would run for was an open question, but it was expected to go for the next couple of years.

Community groups between the Port Hills and central Christchurch were welcome to suggest possible sites.

Whether the project would attract tūī was dependent on nature and there was an “element of build it and they will come”, he said.

Korimako/bellbird and kererū/wood pigeon are also likely beneficiaries.

Another 3000 native plants will be available for Meridian Energy customers to pick up for free at the adventure park on Friday and Saturday, to plant at their own properties.

They will need to show a power bill and must be living between the adventure park and central city to be eligible.

In 2009 and 2010, 72 tūī were released at Hinewai Reserve near Akaroa. The population has established and there are now regular sightings in Akaroa and Little River.

One was seen in Mt Pleasant in April, described as “better than TV” by those residents lucky enough to see it.

Another was seen in Huntsbury in November 2018, and there have been sightings in Lyttelton in the last few years.