This is a tui, the mockingbird of New Zealand. It has two little white feather balls or tufts hanging from its neck and a comb. They are black iridescent in color.
It imitates other birds and just random snippets of sounds. Certain sounds–bells and beeps and squeaks and whirs–remind me of Artoo Detoo. The link will let you hear them. It is really charming. They were nearly wiped out by the 1990’s with only a few pairs left (thanks to predators and I am looking at you neighborhood cats). But with a concerted effort at restoration they now number in the thousands. You can hear them everywhere beeping and exiting bell-like notes.
They love nectar. I put out some feeders and they have started to come by. (He was far away and so the picture is blurry. Sorry. I’ll post a better one if I can get him to stand still. He is a flitter.)
Another still endangered bird we saw at Zealandia was the takahe. Flightless and looking pretty darn clueless. If you are a flightless bird, unless you have some kind of defense through claws, it’s a tough life. All you can do is run. They are working at increasing their numbers by keeping them away from predators and hoping they breed.
A Yank Among the Kiwis 