7/22/14

Tuesday, July 22, 2014 - ,

Feeding the big birds

We feed sparrows, chaffinches, and weka. A tube feeder, a frying pan, and sometimes something I've made for the passerines. But what about the weka? Well they get pasta, chook food, a pond, a compost pile, and I even tried porridge but that stuck to their beaks to much. It started with pig food and a pair of ear muffs.
 A Weka (Gallirallus australis) came up the drive one night searching food. The tractor had been running earlier so he was probably here to find the source of the noise. Instead he found a bucket. He stretched up his neck to look inside, But the lid of the bucket was in the way. The cheeky weka took off the lid and scattered the buckets' contents all around. There was things like apple and pumpkin that he liked and things like broccoli. He stayed here for a few days.
 A few months later my cousins came. Then another weka came.She went into their tent to look at their stuff and poop on their pillows.
 After a year she returned with her mate the first weka. So far they have had two broods and are planning to have another one. I shall be posting updates on them often.