Project spreads wings to lure tu¯¯ı back to city
It is the only city without tu¯ ı¯ but a plan is underway to lure the native bird back by planting hundreds of new ‘‘tu¯ ı¯ kai’’ in central Christchurch.
The Tu¯ ı¯ Corridor – a joint initiative by the Christchurch Foundation and Meridian Energy – aims to to plant
11,000 tu¯ ı¯-friendly plants between Banks Peninsula and the CBD.
The plan is to create enough food and habitat to encourage the birds to flock back after the region’s tu¯ ı¯ population died out in the 1970s.
The project was launched last September, when hundreds of volunteers planted 3000 native plants in the Christchurch Adventure Park in the Port Hills. Its second event took place yesterday, with a mini forest of
300 native plants established at the Ara Institute of Canterbury’s central city campus.
Christchurch Foundation chief executive Amy Carter said Christchurch was the only city in New Zealand that did not have tu¯ ı¯.
‘‘We don’t know why tu¯ ı¯ died out in
Canterbury . . . it’s the only region in New Zealand where there isn’t a really common population.
‘‘Some breeding pairs were reintroduced to [Banks] Peninsula a number of years ago by the Department of Conservation and the Banks Peninsula Conservation Trust, and they’re starting to spread. But what we need is to have more food that they like to eat on this side of the hill, to bring them over from the peninsula.’’
Carter said the 300 plants at Ara would help create a ‘‘mini forest’’ bellbirds and tu¯ ı¯ could come to in a few years time, once they had grown up a bit.
But she said that was just the beginning. Next month about 5000 will be planted on four hectares at Banks Peninsula’s Living Springs, near Allandale.
Another 5000 will be planted in September, at a site yet to be confirmed, and Meridian plans to more
‘‘We don’t know why tu¯¯ı died out in Canterbury ... it’s the only region in New Zealand where there isn’t a really common population.’’
Amy Carter
Christchurch Foundation chief executive
than double the original project by planting another 11,000 next year.
Carter said Cantabrians keen to help out could plant natives like ko¯ whai or harakeke – New Zealand flax – in their own backyards.
‘‘Others that you might want to put in your vege garden, [they are] not natives, but they really like feijoa.
‘‘Things that have a flower they can feed on . . . anything that you see other birds drinking from. Flax in particular seems really popular.’’
In 2009 and 2010, 72 tu¯ ı¯ were released at Hinewai Reserve near Akaroa. The population has established and there are now regular sightings in Akaroa and Little River.
They have occasionally been spotted in Christchurch too. One seen in Mt Pleasant last April, was described as ‘‘better than TV’’ by residents lucky enough to see it.