January 8, 2008
Tui hooligans
The recent flap (no pun intended) over noisy tui may seem like a typical silly season non-story, but believe me, it’s a real problem. I live above a major central city intersection, and people sometimes ask whether I’m disturbed by road noise. “No,” I say, “but those bloody birds wake me up at 5 in the morning!” A small patch of harakeke eight floors down is enough to attract hordes of juvenile tui flitting around and chattering and generally carrying on like kids in Manners Mall. Tsk tsk, youth today!
It’s probably just the morning-averse urbocentric biophobic grump in me, but does anyone else notice it? And what is the best collective noun for tui? A disturbance? A larrikin? A raucous?
Is it illegal to shoot them with an air rifle in a suburban setting? That sounds a lot crazier when you see it in type. 4.47am for the last month, I have been awoken by a tui. No kidding on the exact time either. It then continues with a monotonous tone, pretty much all day. Would DOC come and get it? Are they like homing piegons and would return? As you can see, it is driving me bonkers.
Linda, I feel your pain!!! We have ONE rougue tui who has only. one. note. Which he/she monotonously pipes twice over and over. all. day. From 5am to 9pm. The worst thing about it is that it is also a bully and has chased all the other tui away from our property. The result is that we never hear the other birds, only an infernal “toot toot”, pause… … … “toot toot”, pause… … … all day long. I’ve now taken to trying to chase this particular individual away I cant stand it any longer. I hope I can attract the other, normal ones back. It is absolutely driving me nuts.
So feel for you Linda & Elizabeth
We live in Tirohanga and have a rogue Tui/s who chirps all day too. From anywhere between 4 am & 9pm. We have lived here just on 3 1/2 years and this by far the longest and noisiest summer starting in November and still going. Oh they change their tune as they mature DOC says! Yea right! How long does it take to Mature? DOC won’t do anything but tell you that you can’t kill them! Would love to cut down all the bush both sides of our street.
I imagine that it would be ilegal to shoot it but DOC or Forest and Bird should be able to help you with non-shooty methods of bird removal
surely its a hui of tui ?
send them round to my place – i’d love to have them here.…
I could quite happily enjoy tui-song at most times: but not at 5 o’clock in the bloody morning!
So it turns out the Tui’s are singing despite being affected by unusually high rates of cancer. Happy with yourselves, tui-haters?
In the game version of The Hitch Hiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, there was a section where you had to survive a recital of Vogon Poetry. It took me ages to get through that part.
I tried “block ears”, “shout loudly”, “ignore poetry” and many others. Nothing worked and I’d always die by the third stanza. Finally I tried “enjoy poetry” and it worked.
Maybe the people with troublesome tui’s outside their windows could find away to enjoy the birdsong. It’s like the game said: I remember the game said: “worse things have happened at sea (and at school, for that matter)”.
A hui of tui.
YES!