Tūī sings Pizza Hut jingle – yeah right!
Posted 16 January 2009 // Basil Keane
Is this Tūī a viral marketeer?
A tūī in Inglewood has apparently been singing the Pizza Hut jingle. Is this a genuine case of a tūī performance, or a new marketing ploy? Have a listen for yourself.
Feathered impressionist
This is not that unlikely. Not only is the tūī a great singer, but it’s also a mimic. Tūī imitate the songs of other birds, and can also imitate people. Traditionally, they were trained by Māori to do mihi (greetings), karakia (charms) and recite proverbs. Anecdotally, they’ve been said to imitate car alarms, phones, alarm clocks and popular songs.
An ecstasy of tūī?
Not everybody loves the melodious tūī. While it’s been said that a group of tūī is known as an ecstasy of tūī, Wellingtonians were complaining last year about the agony of tūī. The success of the Karori Sanctuary has led to a significant increase in Wellington’s tūī population. Apparently some people started ringing the sanctuary to complain about the resultant noise, which sometimes started in the early hours of the morning. It’s got to be a small price to pay for revitalisation of our native bird population.
In our days of dial up we had a tui who lived in a tree near our computer who would answer our modem.
I kind of miss the annoying dial-up sound. For the sake of nostalgia I’ve found a dial-up sound file for you.
I love tui - I see them flying outside my bedroom window, suckling on the flax flowers. I am amazed at the powers of mimicry that have highlighted by Bas’s blog; I’m also admiring of the natural intelligence of Maori to utilise those things around them for purposes other than the obvious!
It’s also cool how NZers appreciate things of nature - even if the things of nature are mimicking consumer advertising!
After my partner and I were in the garden being silly and singing the old Blue Clinic shampoo advertising jingle (’Wash your hair! Too clean for dandruff,’ etc, we heard one of the local tūī singing the first three notes (’Wash your hair!’) over and over.