We sometimes think of bellbirds and tui being primarily nectar feeders and they tend to be classified as "honeyeaters" but I'm sure thatmany of you have watched both bird species in the spring when they are feeding young. You see their great skill at catching and eating all sorts of insects. Tui and beelbird do all sorts of acrobatics to catch cicada and every sort of flying insect. They aren't quite as good as fantails but they certainly try hard!
Over the years I have become increasingly aware also of the key role that all the different fruits of divaricating shrubs play in being a vital autumn food supply for bellbirds. We don't have tui here.
For perhaps 6 months, from January right into the winter, bellbirds are very active feeding on all the Coprosma fruit and also shrub Aristotelia, snowberry, bush lawyer and also the insects associated with these shrubs. It makes me realise just how critical it is for these native birds that we don't just save the native forests but that we also focus on saving all the shrublands around the forests that are often far more extensive and regarded by many as "wasteland". These shrub foods are all the more important for bellbird with their traditional beech honey dew food being stolen by wasps.
It really is about being able to join the "Seasonal Dots" and work out in every season what is fruiting, flowering or where the insects are so that there is a continuous supply of food for these special birds and that they are not being wiped out by predators.
This year the pinot noir grape that we have carefully nurtured in our high country garden fruited. For the first time it has a huge number of succulent and very sweet grapes. Opportunistic bellbirds are now feasting on the grapes so it is great to see them adapt to use any available food supplies so they can store fat to get through the winter.