Hand-rearing orphaned baby birds

Each spring-summer, BirdCare's nursery grows to nurture hundreds of orphaned baby bird rescues. From tiny hatchlings that had fallen from nests, wobbly walkers straying from parents, to numerous predator interactions, our renowned nursery programme gives these tiny taonga the best chance to make it back out to the big wide world!

Hospital Manager Catriona laughs about becoming "surrogate parents," while avoiding habituation to humans... "We want our nursery graduates to learn to thrive independently, for return to native ecosystems."

Each rescue receives daily health checks, temperature and hydration support, in environmentally-enriched enclosures, sometimes antibiotics and pain relief.

Thank you for helping our clinical staff, and dedicated volunteers raise these tiny taonga.