BirdCare Aotearoa

BirdCare Aotearoa Care and rehabilitation for sick, injured, and orphaned wild native birds.

Our rehabilitation center cares for native sick, injured and orphaned native wild birds of New Zealand. We are a charitable organisation that is not government funded and relies on donations and grants

08/08/2025

Mahi tahi (working together)! 💕

Kereru 25-1124 was yet another admission with suspected collision injuries. It was rescued from Karekare beach car park, and quickly brought to BirdCare. Our clinical team found bruising around its keel (extension of its sternum), and coagulated blood around the beak tip- causing the beak to be "fused" shut. Although there were no orthopedic injuries, it seemed unbalanced. It was able to perch and flap. It tested positive for a Trichomoniasis (parasitic infection).

Oxygen, fluids, pain relief, anti-microbials, and physio. After 19 days in care, recovering to 680g, it was ready to go home. It's feathers were waterproof, and we were confident that ruffled up look would best recover in the wild.

We asked our friends at Te Kawerau ā Maki to help with this release. Karekare is a special place, and kereru are a taonga to the iwi. Kevin (chair of our Board) handed the manu to Josie, who named it "Karaka," in memory of rangatira Papa George, and the berries the birds feast on. 🧡

Thank you Josie for sharing the significance of Karaka's return to Te Pae o Tiriwa- the perch of Tiriwa, their founding ancestor and guardian.

When you next visit Karekare, look out for Karaka and its friends, sheltering in the great forest of Tiriwa!

Incoming! This beautiful tūī was admitted to our ICU today after being found grounded in the middle of the road in Mount...
06/08/2025

Incoming!

This beautiful tūī was admitted to our ICU today after being found grounded in the middle of the road in Mount Eden. A huge thank you to the wonderful community members who rescued this bird and brought it straight to BirdCare Aotearoa for urgent care. 💚

Our hospital team immediately began supportive care for patient 25-1232, including oxygen therapy, fluids, and pain relief. 🏨🩺

Although its condition remains touch and go, we’re optimistic that it was rescued in time — giving it the best possible chance of a full recovery and eventual return to the wild. 🤞

We're currently looking to partner with environmentally-conscious businesses who would like to support and champion this tūī's journey to recovery. If your organisation would like to be part of its story, please comment below — we’d love to hear from you!

What a perfect way to spend a Friday evening! Thanks so much to Bruce Kendall and Sarah Kavanagh - Communities and Resid...
04/08/2025

What a perfect way to spend a Friday evening!

Thanks so much to Bruce Kendall and Sarah Kavanagh - Communities and Residents for helping get this beautiful Pakahā Fluttering shearwater, back out to the moana!

Sir Barry's words of advice: "next time bring a reporter!" 😊 ... Thanks Bruce and Sarah for helping us raise awareness of these adorable, and vulnerable creatures!

01/08/2025

For those of you who guessed Masked Lapwing / Spur-winged Plover—you were right! 🐣

These four little orphans are settling in beautifully in our nursery. They’re feeding well, growing stronger every day, and showing all the right signs of healthy development. 💚

For everyone following their journey— during daytime, you can follow these adorable little mess makers on grow in real time on their very own live feed! 👀📹

👉 https://www.twitch.tv/birdcare

A big, beautiful thank you to Titirangi Potters, Crafty Baker and all our wonderful e hoa (friends) who helped with the ...
31/07/2025

A big, beautiful thank you to Titirangi Potters, Crafty Baker and all our wonderful e hoa (friends) who helped with the pottery fundraiser last weekend. Together, you raised $2600 for our native bird hospital. 💚

These funds enable the clinical rehabilitation of taonga like this big and beautiful Kererū.
Patient #25-1193 was rescued from Glen Eden, following a window collision. The rescuer carefully watched the bird, noticed it was stunned, and brought into care straight away. Perfect rescue strategy. Thank you!

#25-1193 was admitted into ICU- needing oxygen, pain-relief and tube-feeds. As it recovered, it moved into our outdoor aviaries, where our hospital team monitored its recovery, checking for hydration, feeding, feather condition, and flying abilities.

After 13 days in care, it was ready to go home. We needed a safe, predator-controlled area in Glen Eden to release this Kererū!

Luckily, the young kaitiaki at Konini Primary, Green-Gold Enviroschool, are doing an amazing job at regenerating their ngahere and trapping rodents/possums! The Konini kids stepped in, affectionately naming the bird "Uncle Kevin," and helped with it's release. [Kevin you may know is BirdCare's Chair, so we chuckled at their choice of name].

Thank you to Gen and Ms. Aldsworth for sharing the karakia from Te Kawerau ā Maki.

Uncle Kevin surprised us, choosing to hop into the bush, rather than fly into the treeline. So, Jono and Rashi had a quick bush-bashing adventure to check on it. We are confident that Uncle Kevin was able to fly away... on its own time!

Thank you to everyone, for supporting native birdlife and tomorrow's conservationists! 💚

Although beautiful, wild birds carry many diseases. Our hospital has to be very careful with containment and biosecurity...
29/07/2025

Although beautiful, wild birds carry many diseases. Our hospital has to be very careful with containment and biosecurity 😷

Avian diseases like Avian Botulism, Chlamydia, Coccidia, Giardia, Trichomoniasis can transfer to other birds... but also, some can infect humans, or be carried home to pets or poultry. As many of you know, we are also at the front lines for Avian Influenza.

A special thank you to the Lottery Grants Board, for funding a large infrastructure upgrade at our hospital. Through the Minister's discretionary fund, we were able to build non-porous walls through the internal wards, create a dedicated infectious ward, a quarantine area, and a separate swimming pool.

This was a mega project, so we are very grateful for grants-in-aid from Waitākere Ranges Local Board, Waitematā Local Board, and Albert-Eden Local Board, towards this build! 💚

Patient photos by our talented volunteer Eva Cadario. These birds were found positive for Trich, Chlamydia, and a parasitic mouth worm, respectively.

Arohanui to our friends at Crafty Baker and . Check out their pottery fundraiser in the Titirangi village today. Suppor...
27/07/2025

Arohanui to our friends at Crafty Baker and . Check out their pottery fundraiser in the Titirangi village today. Support our native bird hospital, while sipping on a coffee and munching on the best sourdough in Auckland!
Thanks so much for the continued support team. Lol, and with bread so good, you wont have enough to feed the ducks. Help to reduce the risk of avian botulism too (organic matter like rotting bread really impacts our ecosystem)

Arohanui to our friends at and potters! Check out their pottery fundraiser in the Titirangi village today. Support our...
27/07/2025

Arohanui to our friends at and potters! Check out their pottery fundraiser in the Titirangi village today. Support our native bird hospital, while sipping on a coffee and munching on the best sourdough in Auckland!
Thanks so much for the continued support team.
Lol, and with bread so good, you wont have enough to feed the ducks. Help to reduce the risk of avian botulism too (organic matter like rotting bread really impacts our ecosystem)

Wow—we’ve already started receiving orphaned babies for the season! 🐣 Three of these adorable chicks rrived from Silverd...
25/07/2025

Wow—we’ve already started receiving orphaned babies for the season! 🐣

Three of these adorable chicks rrived from Silverdale yesterday, and a fourth hatchling joined them today! That’s four new arrivals in just 24 hours. 🐣🐣🐣🐣

These precocial chicks are clinically healthy and capable of self-feeding, and all are now settling in well to our early-arrivals nursery. (That soft whirring you hear? That’s the incubator keeping them cosy!)

Can you guess what species they are? 👀

We’re incredibly grateful to our amazing Friends of BirdCare—your regular donations make it possible for us to provide expert, season-round care to Aotearoa’s native birds.

If you'd like to become a Friend and support this vital work, visit: https://birdcareaotearoa.org.nz/friend-of-birdcare-aotearoa/

Brrr! Its chilly outside. But, be assured our patients are nice and toasty, thanks to the Heat Pumps donated by our gene...
24/07/2025

Brrr! Its chilly outside. But, be assured our patients are nice and toasty, thanks to the Heat Pumps donated by our generous friends Gree New Zealand.

In addition to keeping our wards warm, the heat pump has been essential in our Insectorium- raising high-protein feeds for the patients. The meal worms are loving the constant 28degC... keeping even the fussiest little fantails fed.

Gree are kindly also donating to BirdCare's rehabilitation efforts for every heat pump or hot water cylinder sold! So check out their range!

Thanks team!

PS, that Pīwakawaka did eat! It then re-learned to self-feed, and was soft-released into the ngahere just behind our hospital 💚

Even more Giant news from our Pāngurunguru Giant Petrel! Last month, this seabird was found in Muriwai—underweight, dehy...
22/07/2025

Even more Giant news from our Pāngurunguru Giant Petrel!

Last month, this seabird was found in Muriwai—underweight, dehydrated, anaemic, and with an injured eye. It was quickly transferred by Department of Conservation - Auckland to the New Zealand Centre for Conservation Medicine (NZCCM) at Auckland Zoo, where it spent four days in critical care, then transferred to BirdCare Aotearoa for continued rehabilitation.

Although asymptomatic, patient 25-1089 had tested positive for Avian Chlamydia, and was admitted into our quarantine facility. Although this can be a common bacterial infection in wildlife, we needed strict quarantine to prevent the potential spread to other patients or humans.

Over its time in care, this bird made an exceptional recovery thanks to a dedicated regime of careful monitoring, hydration support, eye treatment, and a tailored feeding plan. 🐟 It enjoyed regular swims and saltwater sprays—and gained approximately 1kg in weight! Final weight 3.52Kg.

With its eye healed, and a healthy body score, it's rehabilitation journey was complete... But then of course, our team also had to be on wind and storm watch... We didn't want to release this petrel into a giant storm!

This week, was the big day. 🌊💙

Giant thanks to Brett and the incredible Auckland Transport Harbourmaster team for donating their time to assist with the release, and the Waitematā Local Board for support. Special thanks also to our friends at the Coastguard New Zealand Huia and Kaipara, for sharing your knowledge of the west coast swells. And of course to our wonderful volunteer Terry for helping to organise this trip.

Arohanui to Te Kawerau ā Maki for advising us on tikanga, and sharing karakia from Ngai Tai ki Tamaki for this taonga.

Ngā mihi nui—our heartfelt thanks to everyone who played a part in this bird’s rescue and recovery. It takes a village.... or maybe even a whole City. 💚 Auckland Biodiversity

Hoot hoot! 🦉Patient 25-1185 recovered very well in care last week. This Ruru was rescued from a feral cat attack- and re...
21/07/2025

Hoot hoot! 🦉
Patient 25-1185 recovered very well in care last week. This Ruru was rescued from a feral cat attack- and really shows that even a raptor is vulnerable to free-roaming apex predators.

On Friday, we were delighted to return this Ruru back to its home territory in Patumahoe. We called our friends from The CREST - Predator Free Franklin, and asked if they knew a safe place to return this taonga.

Thanks to the eco-champions of Predator Free Franklin, Henry's Reserve is mammalian predator-controlled, with established native ngahere. Taraire seeds sprouting on the forest floor indicate that this area is a sanctuary from rodents and mustelids. It is also a Peka peka bat corridor! 🌿🦇

*Don't stress, their data suggests that bats do not roost in the area- but the Ruru will find plenty other feeds in this rich habitat!

The Ruru flew off, as soon as Paul from CREST opened the box. Fortunately, talented Seb was able to record its flight of freedom!
👉 https://youtu.be/7uYPpteOyHA

Address

74 Avonleigh Road, Green Bay
Auckland
0604

Opening Hours

Monday 10am - 2pm
Tuesday 10am - 2pm
Wednesday 10am - 2pm
Thursday 10am - 2pm
Friday 10am - 2pm
Saturday 10am - 2pm
Sunday 10am - 2pm

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