CreatureData

Tūī

Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae (J. F. Gmelin, 1788)

LCLeast Concernsongbirds

The tūī (Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae) is a species in the family Meliphagidae, order Passeriformes. Recorded adults weigh 89.6 g to 124.9 g. Source checklists list it for 1 country: Australia. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.

Tūī (Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae)
Photo: Charles J. Sharp · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the tūī

Weight
89.6 g – 124.9 gsrc for Weight
Length
Not recorded
Lifespan
Not recorded
Diet
Nectarivoresrc for Diet
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
forestsrc for Habitat
Young per litter or clutch
3src for Young per litter or clutch
Lifestyle
Perchingsrc for Lifestyle
Migration
Sedentarysrc for Migration
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
Countries on record
1 countrysrc for Countries on record

Where does the tūī live?

Countries where Catalogue of Life checklists list the species. Many checklists carry no country data, so the list is often incomplete. It is not a range map.

The tūī is listed for 1 country.

Australia
  • Listed
  • Not listed
small islands are not drawn at this scale

The same countries as a list

  1. Australia

Listed by: ITIS (scope: global), through the Catalogue of Life.

What is the tūī?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

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.

From the Wikipedia article “Tūī” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=T%C5%AB%C4%AB&oldid=1378614376), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.

Is the tūī endangered?

The tūī is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.

  1. LCLeast Concern
  2. NTNear Threatened
  3. VUVulnerable
  4. ENEndangered
  5. CRCritically Endangered
  6. EWExtinct in the Wild
  7. EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species.

How is the tūī classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classAves
  4. orderPasseriformes
  5. familyMeliphagidae
  6. genusProsthemadera
  7. SpeciesProsthemadera novaeseelandiae (J. F. Gmelin, 1788)

Synonyms Certhia cincinnata, Merops cincinnatus, Merops nova, Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae kermadecensis, Prosthemadura novaeseelandiae

Other names and names in other languages (32)
  • Parson birdEnglish
  • Parson birdEnglish
  • TuiEnglish
  • TuiEnglish
  • menjamel tuiCatalan
  • tui zpěvnýCzech
  • aderyn y goler gronWelsh
  • PræstefuglDanish
  • TuihonigfresserGerman
  • PriestervogelGerman
  • tui-mielmanĝuloEsperanto
  • Mielero tuiSpanish
  • tui (tui-meelind)Estonian
  • Méliphage tuiFrench
  • kudravi medojedCroatian
  • エリマキミツスイJapanese
  • tujisLithuanian
  • KōkōMāori
  • ToeiDutch
  • tuihonningeterNorwegian
  • kędziornikPolish
  • papa-mel-tuiPortuguese
  • papa-mel-azuladoPortuguese
  • Kokorrm
  • ТуиRussian
  • Новозеландский туиRussian
  • medárik kazateľSlovak
  • TujiSerbian
  • นกทุยThai
  • поеUkrainian
  • 簇胸吸蜜鸟Chinese
  • 紐西蘭吸蜜鳥Chinese

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistWikidataIUCN Red List

Relatives of the tūī

Other species in the same family Meliphagidae.

LC, Least Concern
Noisy miner (Manorina melanocephala)

Noisy miner

Manorina melanocephala

Meliphagidae

CompareTūī vs New Zealand bellbirdTūī vs Blue-faced honeyeaterTūī vs Noisy minerTūī vs Eastern spinebill

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

How big is the tūī?

An adult tūī weighs 89.6 g – 124.9 g, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

Where does the tūī live?

Catalogue of Life checklists list the tūī for 1 country: Australia. Checklist coverage is uneven, so the true range may be wider.

Is the tūī endangered?

The tūī is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is not currently at risk of extinction.

What kind of animal is the tūī?

The tūī (Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae) belongs to the family Meliphagidae in the order Passeriformes.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Tūī (Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/t

MLA

“Tūī (Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/t.

BibTeX
@misc{t_2026,
  title = {Tūī (Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/t},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}