New Zealand Bird Rescue Charitable Trust December 2012 Newsletter # 17 : Christmas Issue

News New Board Member

Renee Henderson is a most welcome addition to our Board and brings many talents and skills that have already been of great benefit to our Organisation. She is constantly looking for new and better ways to promote NZ Bird Rescue and its feathered friends, including through the increasingly popular Social Media. We (and the birds) are very lucky to have Renee on our team!

Fundraising Star …

We are looking for a professional

Volunteer Fundraiser(s) who will be

responsible for raising funds for NZBR.

This is an unpaid but very rewarding

position that will involve preparation

of funding applications to Trusts and

Sponsors.

For a full job description please email :

info@birdrescue.org.nz

Join our Committee ...

We are currently looking for new members for our NZBR Volunteer Committee. This Committee works on task specific projects (such as volunteer training manuals, event planning, fostering programmes etc) and meets once a month. If this sounds like something you would like to be a part of, please email your interest to : volunteer@birdrescue.org.nz

Merry Christmas to everyone … Thank you for supporting NZ Bird

Rescue, from the team and from all our Feathered Friends

The Migration of Chris

Morley

We are sad to announce that

Chris Morley, a much loved

member of the Bird Rescue

flock, will be leaving at the end

of December.

Chris and her husband Pete

have decided to head back to

the USA where their family are

based.

Chris dedicates her days off to

volunteering at the Green Bay

Hospital and is also a founding

member of the Volunteer

Committee team.

Chris helped to implement and

professionalise our Training

Programme for new volunteers

and worked with the

Committee on the Volunteer

Protocols – which is a guide for

new volunteers to NZBR and

will be launched early 2013.

We will miss you Chris! Thank

you for all your hard work and

dedication to the birds from

Lyn and the team at NZBR.

Rising Star ...

Introducing Dana Franklin

Originally a volunteer at the

Green Bay Hospital, Dana

now volunteers her talents as

an artist to NZBR.

We are very lucky to have her

on our team and this year she

has designed the 2012 Xmas

Cards for our volunteers and

wider supporters. She is

extremely talented as you

can see in the below Xmas

poster.

Anyone who has dropped a

bird off at the centre will

recognise the familiar face of

Pandice the Cockatoo who

greats everyone at the door.

Thank you Dana!

Hours:

Green Bay Hospital

8am - 5pm / 7 days

If you are bringing in a bird during these hours please don't call first!

Lyn Macdonald

74 Avonleigh Road

Green Bay

Ph: (09) 816 9219

Hilary Stollery

28 De Havilland Dr

Manukau

Ph: (09) 262 2260

Donation Certificates by Sharon Richards Photography

Hilary, Brian and Lyn from NZ

Bird Rescue with their medals

from the SPCA which were

handed out in recognition of

volunteer service as part of

the Queens Diamond Jubilee celebrations. This award was given

out to the many wonderful volunteers of the SPCA and to people

from other Rescue Organisations such as NZ Bird Rescue

Charitable Trust. Not pictured is Berend Westera, our NZBR Vet,

who also received this medal.

Xmas Cards by Dana Franklin

For Donations

Westpac

03 0206 0303939 001

Receipts : info@birdrescue.org.nz

Your donation goes where it counts -

to the birds and running costs of the

Green Bay Hospital

Thank you for your support!

November the 5th is the

only night of the year that

NZBR can have a Bonfire and it was decided to make 2012 the

start of what will become an annual event for our volunteers. We

have a team of 35+ regular volunteers and the Board and

Volunteer Committee wanted to ‘give back’ to the team by putting

on a BBQ, bonfire and certificate ceremony. Not everyone could

attend the event but those who did really enjoyed the opportunity

to spend a bit of quality time with the other members of the team.

At the end of the night one of our newer volunteers, Tanya,

surprised everyone by performing a poi fire dance.

A magic end to a fantastic night!

Bonfire Night

Sharon Richards

SPCA Awards

Bonfire night at NZ Bird Rescue Beret receiving her certificate

Sandra receiving her certificate Tanya’s Poi Fire Dance

Follow us on : www.facebook.com/NZBRCT

Birdies Tale of The Incident

Hi, my name is Birdie - actually my full name is “BirdieTwo.” My Mum was Birdie1.

My Mum, Birdie1, took over a house in Orakei, more than a year ago, to set up our Bird Pantry. Its

carpets and paved areas were in good repair, its Humans ignored us... none of this now applies! Our

multiple deposits on the property have now secured my ownership of it and its two Humans. Let me

explain. Birdie1 started gardening with the Human back in 2010, eventually they worked as a close

team. They investigated the same holes, the Human pulling weeds and Birdie1 right alongside gobbling

up the live smorgasbord. Sometimes the Human would find slugs and call “Birdie, Birdie, Quick Quick”.

Birdie1 would hastily fly home, if she was in the neighbourhood, to get the delicacies! Neighbours think

our Humans are a little “odd”, they have witnessed … and they have heard.

Birdie1 then found that sitting on the Terrace wall and glaring through the window at the Human on the

computer would get the Human to come outside with crumbs and scraps. The Human was often too

slow so Birdie1 tried standing just inside the Terrace door but she got REAL action from BOTH Humans

when she hopped through all those big rooms of furniture ... and stood on the computer! The Humans

were unhappy when Mum drank out of that mug of brown stuff near the computer. Mum said she took

control after that … the Humans were now putty in her claws! Fly down to land by the car when they

drove in, she could run in with them to open the Bird Pantry. Speed landing beside the Human getting

the morning paper; she could quickly hop in through the front door, run to the kitchen and get breakfast

at a decent bird time. Get a second breakfast? Just flying or running to greet the Human after his

morning walk works ... Lunch? Put your beak hard against the window and look neglected. If you ran

back and forth between the Humans in the dining room they would pass you lunch treats off their plates.

Birdie1 told us all this when we two chicks were still in the nest back in

October 2011. Then she took us to the Terrace!

We stood there politely, mouths open and she got Takeaways for us!

Ran into the kitchen and grabbed food from the Human on their knees.

Forgot to mention that Mum made the Humans kneel and hand feed her

tasty titbits. She would rush outside to feed us, back inside to the Human

still kneeling with their next offerings … back and forth … back and

forth ...

The Humans ultimately just sat on the Terrace step and passed Mum the

food for her to feed us. Mum never let us go inside though, those

Humans locked her in once! Searching for a Human to let her out, she

left a deposit in each room, a trail that went upstairs. Mum spent several

hours in a second floor bedroom. She pulled things down, found nothing

edible so, tired after all that searching, she was having a nap on the

The following story is of events carefully captured and recorded by Anne on behalf of Birdie2— a

clever Blackbird who is a much loved resident of her garden and who had suffered a terrible injury after

“the INCIDENT”. Thank you to Anne and Birdie2 for crafting this tale into a delightful and unique

perspective—the other side of a rescue …. And we hope that the reader does enjoy this special addition

to the NZ Bird Rescue newsletter ...

My Humans serve me on

their knees...

pretty, originally white, bedspread when the Human found her. The Human opened lots of windows and doors but

Mum was very comfortable and refused to budge until the Human grumpily stomped down stairs. Mum happily

bounced down stairs behind her and put on a sad face ... got good nibbles that time! Mum was happy! She liked

the Humans, often napping, or just watching them from the Birdie perch rungs under their antique chairs.

Then, sadly, Mum got caught! By that evil Ginger Tomcat! The Humans were bereft & sad until ... well Mum was

gone, my sibling and I reckoned 6 weeks was long enough, so I went and stood where Mum used to ... and glared in

the window at the Human on the computer!

WELL … did I get a welcome! I sent my brother packing and moved in. Only took me a few days; the Humans were

intrigued at how I hopped right through the house and knew where the Bird Pantry was in the Kitchen - just like

Mum!

I am glad I moved in....it saved my life when I suffered my INCIDENT!

That nasty Tui - it attacked me and got my eye. I know I looked as miserable as I

felt when I arrived in the kitchen with my wings and tail drooped and when I

turned my good eye up to look at the Humans I saw they were as distressed as I

was. My other eye was a bulging, yellowy, mattery infected mess. Those

Humans ... they tried to put their hands around me!! I might have been sick,

perhaps dying, but I was NOT having that! I threw feathers around the room,

leapt onto the couch and swore at them ... and hinted that I would never come

back inside if they tried to get smart with me. They thought they were clever

getting that green butterfly net ... WELL! I AM BIRD ... I am NOT stupid. I would

rather die of a rotten eye than succumb to THAT. Desperate for help the

Humans phoned Vets and Bird places and searched the Internet. I really didn't

care at that point. I was spending my days in a dejected heap on the ground ...

BUT! they found Lyn Macdonald, my unfeathered Bird Rescue saviour!

She told my Humans how to make me better again. Well, was I on a good flight

there! For AGES I was treated to the only highlight in my dark days. Not my

usual Human scraps, but quantities, on demand, of my very own tins of vitamin

laden MEAT ... made of pussy cats! Its true! I saw the picture of the contents

and my Humans put the Magic Powder in it! I took maudlin pleasure in pecking

my way through several pussy cats... and vindicating Birdie1!

Now I look magnificent again. Yup, I am now one eyed but I use my blind eye to ensure my food deliveries are up

to a frequency that suits me. I no longer zigzag across the room when I run out of the house with my stolen treats

in my beak! Hallelujah! I fly pretty darn well ... and fast ... particularly as I have to cross THAT Tui's flight Path.

The Humans are now enslaved as a result of my INCIDENT. They appear stressed that they may have to stay

home for the rest of my life, serving me my pussy cat and fulfilling all my VERY frequent Bird Pantry demands. I

glare through the windows when they keep the doors closed ... I go round and round the house to find an open

door to catch them out ...I have seen them hiding from me. When I block the kitchen doorway they sometimes

pretend they cannot see me and creep up the stairs to hide ... I am young, I might live for another 12 years ... I

might train my chicks........

Hitchcock's horrors have nothing on me!!!!

Birdie Two’s tale of the “INCIDENT” Continued …

This is THE eye I use for

prompt food delivery.