July News | www.nbr.org.nz

With all the rain and strong winds winter has arrived with a rush, at this stage the only Birds that are still getting into trouble are the Adult Moreporks.

I guess their food chain has slowed down which is forcing the Moreporks to look for food near lights, the insects are attracted to bright lights which in turn attracts the Moreporks, window glass and Moreporks are not a good combination, they see a fat moth at the glass and swoop in for the kill only to hit the glass and end up on the ground.

Being a lighter type Bird they injure their neck and eyes, the Woodpigeon being a very solid Bird end up with wing damage and quite often break the window.

If you find a Bird on the ground that may have hit a window please pick them up and place in a box with something soft on the bottom so they have something to grip with their claws.

In many cases after resting for a few hours they will be ready for release again, never leave the Bird on the ground as they will walk away, get cold and then die.

The best idea is contact the Centre as soon as you find the Bird, the sooner we get the Bird the sooner we can work on it.

If you drop an injured Bird at the Centre please leave a contact number so we can be sure the Bird once recovered can be returned to your location for release.

We get Birds dropped into the Centre form all sorts of places and by different members of the Public, one which was very funny last week was a Kingfisher brought in by the Police, the funny part was the guy that hit the Bird was a Member of the Serious Crash Unit who found the Kingfisher stuck in the grill of his car, I’m still waiting for the report, then I can work out who was in the wrong, and No, the Kingfisher had not been drinking.

We are looking for two Volunteers for the Centre, one for a Monday and one for a Thursday, this would suit a retired or semi-retired person who would like to be part of the recovery Centre and have a chance to work with many types of Wild Birds.

You would be working with the Birds, cleaning cages, feeding Baby Birds and having fun.

If you think you would like this sort of work please contact Robyn or Robert on 4381457.

Robert and Robyn Webb

July 2011 Column

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Feature Bird

Woof Woof

Woof Woof was our semi-tame Tui, he would sing and if you were patient he would talk back to you too. He would often startle visitors with his very deep male voice -- an exact match for centre manager Robert Webb.

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“Snoopy” our one legged North Island Brown kiwi died on Wednesday 20 June 2007. Snoopy was 15 years old and had lived with Robert and Robyn Webb at their home since he was only 3 months old.

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This bird was found on Ninety Mile Beach by surfcasters on Friday 23 April 2007. The albatross was transferred to a small bird centre in the Far North. The bird was very skinny and they could not get him to eat so they sent him to us at the Whangarei Native Bird Recovery Centre on Monday 26 April 2007. It appeared that the bird had been caught in the recent storm, battling gale force winds from the east and he was absolutely worn out, unable to stand or hold his head up.

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The white heron had flown into the back yard of a family in the Ruakaka area where he ate all the fish in the goldfish pond. The family let him as they were so amazed at having such a beautiful visitor. They could also see that the bird had an injured left foot and was not weight bearing on that leg.

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Morepork Chicks Too Hot In The Nest

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