Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae
Silhouette: Rachael Joakim · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
The tūī (Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae) is a medium-sized bird native to New Zealand. It is blue, green, and bronze coloured with a distinctive white throat tuft (poi). It is an endemic passerine bird of New Zealand, and the only species in the genus Prosthemadera. It is one of the largest species in the diverse Australasian honeyeater family Meliphagidae, and one of two living species of that family found in New Zealand, the other being the New Zealand bellbird (Anthornis melanura). The tūī has a wide distribution in the archipelago, ranging from the subtropical Kermadec Islands to the sub-Antarctic Auckland Islands, as well as the main islands.
Europeans first encountered the tūī in 1770 at Queen Charlotte Sound on the north coast of New Zealand's South Island during Captain James Cook's first voyage to the Pacific Ocean. Specimens were brought back to England and an engraving of a tūī by the English naturalist Peter Brown, which he called "The New Zeland creeper", was published in 1776. The tūī was seen on all three of Cook's voyages. Cook's account of his second voyage to the Pacific was published in 1777 and included a description and an illustration of the tūī.... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Egmont National Park | 🇳🇿 New Zealand | |
| 2 | Rakiura National Park | 🇳🇿 New Zealand | |
| 3 | Abel Tasman National Park | 🇳🇿 New Zealand | |
| 4 | Fiordland National Park | 🇳🇿 New Zealand | |
| 5 | Arthur's Pass National Park | 🇳🇿 New Zealand | |
| 6 | Aoraki Mount Cook National Park | 🇳🇿 New Zealand |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Auckland | 🇳🇿 New Zealand |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Orana Wildlife Park | 🇳🇿 New Zealand | |
| 2 | Pūkaha National Wildlife Centre | 🇳🇿 New Zealand | |
| 3 | Auckland Zoo | 🇳🇿 New Zealand | |
| 4 | Willowbank Wildlife Reserve | 🇳🇿 New Zealand | |
| 5 | Kiwi Park | 🇳🇿 New Zealand | |
| 6 | Ōtorohanga Kiwi House | 🇳🇿 New Zealand |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Tūī sighting in Aoraki Mount Cook National Park on a given day, based on 8 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 34th most-seen of the 36 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 20%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January and February
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Tūī in Aoraki Mount Cook National Park on a given day, against under 5% in March to December, the lowest months.
Between 11 am and 2 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Tūī sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
6th of 6
Of the 6 parks where we can rate Tūī sightings, Aoraki Mount Cook National Park ranks 6th at under 5%. The best odds are in Egmont National Park (New Zealand, about 90%), Rakiura National Park (New Zealand, about 90%) and Abel Tasman National Park (New Zealand, about 60%). All parks ranked.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Tūī is recorded against all the birds logged in Aoraki Mount Cook National Park (8 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
