Wild Birds

What kind of wild birds do we have in NZ?

New Zealand is really the country of birds (which then makes it doubly frustrating that we seem to have so few avian vets!) - we have flightless birds, we have flighted birds, we have singing birds. We have five different kinds of wild parrots. And we have the tūī!

We even have the famous Bird of the Year competition and the Garden Bird Survey events every year. The garden bird link also lists the many birds we have in NZ.

Wild bird diet

Obviously, wild birds can take care of their own feeding needs as they fly around, forage, dig for bugs, and pilfer your growing fruit and vegies in the summer.

The best way to attract wild birds to your garden is to plant natives.

If you are a parrot owner, you may have a lot of leftover food when you feed your parrots in the morning. Parrots often munch up their pellets and leave a lot of crumbly bits in the dish. It seems like a waste to throw it away, but also you can't exactly leave it there as they won't eat it.

It's also nice to give wild birds some treats, and to supplement food in the winter. NZ winter is not harsh enough (yet!) that they would starve if not given extra nutrients, but it's nice to make friends with the wild life.

There has been some chatter online about the dangers of feeding wild birds, specifically because some people put out containers full of seed and never check on them again. It's very important to clean the dishes! If you are going to feed outside birds, make sure you clean the dishes every day with hot running water (or take the dishes away once they're empty until you're ready to feed them again). Don't just hang up a feeder with a kilo of seeds in it and forget about it!

Wild birds don't have hooked beaks so they may not hull seeds or 'chew' them the way our parrots do. Some will swallow the seeds whole and some will bash them and poke them against the ground. Tūī have long brush tongues and won't eat any hard things, they will enjoy sweet water though (sugar or nectar).

Here's a nice summary from Department of Conservation listing plants and favourite foods of the various NZ birds. 

If you are fortunate enough to be visited by kākā then Zealandia recommends not feeding them as it can cause behavioural and health issues, including increase in rats!

If you go out to feed wild ducks, don't feed them bread and feed them only on land. If you throw things into the pond, it can fester and infect the whole habitat. You can buy special duck feed or even cut up some grapes (don't use whole or they might choke!).

Never feed wild birds human food (eg, bread or milk). 

Parrot Treats family

The way I feed outside birds is by re-purposing my parrots' food from the previous day. So when I first feed my birds in the morning, the dishes are nice and clean and filled with their favourite foods (one like coarse, one likes mash, one likes fine). They also all have their own individual treats - almonds, millet, power treats, and they all get a bit of other pellet they might not like, just to expose them to variety.

Then, the next day, I take their dishes away in the morning to clean, but there is a lot of leftover - usually things they decided they don't like that day. I put all of these into a clean ramekin. 

Once I put away all the leftovers, I wash and dry my birds' dishes and put out the new food and water for them. Then, I get back to feeding the outside birds. Sometimes I use parrot pellets and sometimes wild bird pellets or logs. Logs are quite good because a little goes a long way - half a long is enough to top up that ramekin, just slice it with a knife. 

I also make a sugar water for the tūī and wax eyes (to be fair, sparrows also seem to enjoy it) - one tablespoon of sugar for that ramekin filled with warm water and stir it for a bit. I also provide one ramekin of clean cold water. 

Then I put all three outside.

These clay ramekins are the containers for Chris' Heritage Cheese Dip that you can get at New World or Countdown. There are also smaller flatter ones that I use as utensil rests, those are from Saint-Félicien cheese that you can buy at Moore Wilsons. Clearly, I like cheese and dip a lot as I have several!