Newsletter - New Zealand Bird Rescue Charitable Trust

New Zealand Bird Rescue Charitable Trust
Newsletter #21
August 2013
Welcome to the latest edition of the NZBR newsletter. In this edition, read about interesting bird arrivals to the
centre (including a noisy Australian!), our Duckling Foster Programme and learn all about getting involved as
a Bird Rescue volunteer.
RECENTLY AT BIRD RESCUE
And then there were two!
How unusual! Bird Rescue is now caring for
not one, but TWO Kookaburras. The first
kookaburra turned up in February and was only
the third to have ever been treated at NZBR.
The noisy Australian kookaburra is a rare bird
in New Zealand, with an estimated population
size of less than 500 in New Zealand. They
are normally sighted in areas close to Kawau
Island, where they were released in the 1860’s,
but haven’t established that well in NZ. In any
case, the two of them seem to be getting on very
well in their outdoor aviary, and are both on the
mend.
Donated Goods
If you have any individual
items that you would like
to donate to us to sell on
Trademe to raise funds, we
would be most grateful.
Items need not be birdrelated, but cannot be too
large (for storage reasons).
Even better, if there is a
selling whiz out there who
would like to sell items
for us through Trademe
or organise a fundraising
garage sale- we would love
to hear from you!
Duckling Foster Homes Required for busy summer months
Over our busy spring and summer months, Bird Rescue receives high numbers of birds
requiring care- a large proportion of these are ducklings that have for various reasons
been separated from their mothers. Last year alone, 750 ducklings were taken in over the
summer months- taking up a large amount of resources over this already busy period.
This year, we are hoping to foster out older healthy ducklings in order to free up space for
other injured and unwell birds in the hospital.
Would you or anyone you know be interested in becoming a duckling
foster carer?
Foster carers will need suitable outdoor housing to keep groups of 10 or more ducklings
in (such as an outdoor pen or run) and will need to supply feed. Ducklings will need
daily feeding and cleaning, but other than that will be fairly independent. Ideally foster carers would be able to ‘soft’
release the ducklings on their property once they reach a suitable age. This means that food and shelter would be
provided freely until the birds learn to live fully independently in the wild.
For people with older kids this could be a good summer project.
We are also really keen to find people in West Auckland who
have avairies that would be interested in taking a variety of
rehabilitated birds (10-20 at a time), such as kereru, and soft
releasing them on their properties. This would be a huge help
when we get large numbers of a certain species in, such as we have
seen with Kereru over the last few months.
We would be so grateful to anyone who would like to support
Bird Rescues in this way next summer!
If you are interested in being involved or have further questions,
please email us on info@birdrescue.org.nz.
A second chance for pet birds...
Bird Rescues mission is to help rescue and rehabilitate injured
and sick wild birds, but we often end up being brought pet birds
by default, as there is currently no centre that is dedicated to rescuing pet birds in Auckland. Recently we were
happy to be able to help out when a large group of birds (5 cockatiels, 11 budgies and a maroon-bellied conure)
were surrendered to the centre after their owner sadly passed away. We were pleased that we were able to find all of
them permanent homes within a couple of weeks of them being brought into the centre.
Looking for a happy home: This handsome male mallard x domestic duck
(inset) is currently looking for a caring new home. As he is a cross with a domestic
duck, he cannot fly and will need to become someone’s pet. He will need to be fed
and have access to a pond and a bit of land to roam on- ideally outside of Auckland.
He was brought into the centre by a concerned member of the public after having
been dumped on an industrial site. He would love some greener pastures to stretch
his wings on permanently.
If you are interested in giving a rescue pet bird a second chance, we list all birds up for
adoption on our NZBR Trademe site. Or email trademe@birdrescue.org.nz for specific enquiries.
In the Hospital:
Spur-winged plover chicks
These cute Spur-winged Plover chicks were
brought into the centre in late June after being
found cold and alone. Initially having to be
hand fed, they are now feeding themselves and
thriving in our hospital incubator. Spur-winged
Plover often breed in areas associated with
human activities, such as parks, golf courses
and have even
been known to
nest on top of
buildings! For
this reason, chicks
can often meet
with problems in
their first weeks
of life. We are
hopeful that these
two will do well
over the next few
months and will
eventually be
released back into
the wild.
Renee Henderson, our office manager, will be
taking maternity leave this month for the birth
of her first child. For any enquiries you would
normally contact her for, please email info@
birdrescue.org.nz
Contact Us
GET INVOLVED WITH BIRD RESCUE!
We are coming up to our busiest time of year- breeding season!
During this time we deal with high volumes of birds coming in and
needing care- a lot of them young birds requiring hand feeding.We
are hoping to recruit more volunteers in preparation for this busy
time.
Centre Volunteers: As a Bird Rescue centre volunteer, you
will be trained in handling and basic husbandry of a variety of
native and non-native bird species. While you will be expected
to ‘muck-in’; if you love animals and would like to work with a
great bunch of other passionate volunteers, for a very worthwhile
cause, get in touch. Minimum age is 16 years old.
Poster Distributors: As part of our drive to recruit more
volunteers, we need people to distribute ‘Volunteers Wanted’
posters around Auckland. If you are able to hang a few posters
around your area (supermarkets, community notice boards), we
would greatly appreciate it!
Volunteer Trainers: We are also on the lookout for people
to train up new volunteers. If you love interacting with people
and think you would suit this teaching role, please get in touch.
Expected time commitment for this would be once or twice a
month.
If you are interested in being involved in any of the above roles
please call us, or email volunteer@birdrescue.org.nz with your
details. We rely entirely on volunteer support to carry out the
work we do, and are very grateful to everyone who gives their
time to make a difference for the NZ’s wildlife.
Advisor- Hilary Stollery- (09) 262 2260
8am to 5pm
Hospital Manager- Lyn MacDonald,
Website: www.birdrescue.org.nz
Facebook: www.facebook.com/NZBRCT QSM- lyn@birdrescue.org.nz
Hospital Address: 74 Avonleigh Road, Groundsman- Ray Smith, QSM
Office Manager- Renee Henderson
Green Bay
info@birdrescue.org.nz
Hours: 8am- 5pm/ 7 days
Volunteer Manager- Martyn Taylor
volunteer@birdrescue.org.nz
Adoptions enquiries- Kim MacDonald
trademe@birdrescue.org.nz
Fostering Enquiriesinfo@birdrescue.org.nz
Call us on
(09) 816 9219 x1
‘On mended wings we
set you free’