While walking along the Tongariro river in search of Whio I noticed a Tui fluttering above the river and shot a series of images hoping to catch it with a good wing position.

On reviewing my images I noticed that the bird had been hawking insects invisible to the naked eye at that distance. My images included a sequence of the Tui lining up a mayfly and capturing it in flight.

While well known as nectar feeders that congregate in blooming trees Tui supplement their sugary diet with protein rich invertebrates that they glean from trees or hawk in flight.

Photos with Nikon D850 and Nikon 500mm f5.6PF lens