Rare white tūī spotted near Bay View delights Hawke’s Bay bird watcher

A rare white tūī with leucism was spotted in a Hawke's Bay backyard, enjoying apricots and flax bushes. Photo / Ali Allen

A rare sighting of a white tūī has left a Hawke’s Bay woman delighted and hoping the bird will return.

Ali Allen, who lives near Bay View on Kaimata Rd said she is a regular bird watcher and happened to be observing tūī birds in her apricot tree when she spotted the white bird.

“It’s something that we haven’t seen ever up here,” she said.

Initially Allen wondered if the bird was a pigeon before getting closer and realising it was a tūī – possibly albino.

She first spotted the tūī at the end of December. It was often on its own.

“It was a beautiful white, it was almost snowy white with a little bit of grey flecks through it,” Allen said.

“It was hanging around with the other tūī, but it was as if they weren’t friends ... I felt quite sorry for it.”

She thought her apricot tree laden with fruit and flax bushes attracted the birds to her property.

“It did hang around initially on the flax further up, but it got more and more brave and came in and started enjoying the apricots.”

Allen said the bird stayed around her property for five to six days but hasn’t been sighted since, which she attributed to the lack of apricots on her trees.

Department of Conservation (DoC) senior technical advisor (fauna) Rhys Burns said there were a couple of reasons why a tūī could appear white, including genetic conditions albinism or leucism.

Ali Allen said the bird was often on its own despite other regular coloured tūī feeding nearby. Photo / Ali Allen.

He said leucism was defined as a full or partial loss of pigment cells in the plumage only.

“Birds with leucism have white or a proportion of white feathers but their eyes, beaks and other parts are unaffected.

“From the image provided, the tūī appears to be a juvenile and leucistic; parts of the bird are still black in colour, and the legs and eyes are not pink.”

Burns said the bird’s colours won’t change as it ages, as leucism was an inherited absence of feather pigment cells.

Albinism on the other hand causes a complete lack of the pigment melanin in all cells, including skin, feathers and eyes.

“Albinistic birds have red or pink, and very pale beaks, feathers and skin.”

Burns said lightly coloured birds like these are likely to have a lower survival rate, which adds to their rarity.

“They are more visible to predators and generally achieve a lower breeding success.”

Burns asked anyone who spots a white tūī or any other unusually coloured birds to contact DoC’s non-emergency line on 0800 ASK DOC (0800 275 362), or email info@doc.govt.nz to let the department know.

Burns said learning more about protected species helps us understand how we can protect them better.

Michaela Gower joined Hawke’s Bay Today in 2023 and is based out of the Hastings newsroom. She covers Dannevirke and Hawke’s Bay news and loves sharing stories about farming and rural communities.