Encouraging and supporting birdlife in your backyard is easier than you may think. By taking a few easy steps to create a safe space with access to food and water, you can welcome feathered friends to your garden sanctuary throughout the year. This series looks at bird behaviour through the seasons and how to support them during each one.

Winter

With the days at their shortest and the weather at its strongest, you may be wondering what can be done to support birds during this turbulent time. Well, it's not just ducks that love the rainy days of winter, trees and plants love it too. This is the best time of year to design your garden around what kind of visitors you want to encourage to your backyard.

Plant trees

Creating habitat and providing natural food sources are some of the best things you can do for birds in your backyard and planting trees yields both. When choosing the native plants you want in your backyard, it’s important to consider what occurs naturally in your local area. Try growing plants that provide a good supply of nectar, fruit and foliage all year round so birds will always have food available to them.

Rob Morton has been the owner-operator of Gulf Trees in Awaawaroa Valley on Waiheke for 32 years and has a few top tips to share when choosing trees as food sources for birds. “Nikau palms are a big one for kererū,” says Rob. “They really guts themselves on the berries. Underneath particular trees, you can find nikau seeds by the bucketload that have gone through the birds.

“Another great food tree for kerurū is tī kōuka (New Zealand cabbage tree), ripenng in late spring. Karamu is a wonderful option for berry eating birds too, as it bears berries for many months. Even now, at the winter solstice, some karamu are still in fruit.”

They also love tearing the fresh green tips off the branches or kōwhai, says Rob. “They can really thrash a kōwhai. Luckily the tree itself is quite thin and droopy and the big birds can’t sit on the end of the branches which probably saves them to some degree.”

Tūī are a fan of kōwhai too and it’s not uncommon to see them aggressively defending their favourite flowering food source. While kōwhai trees are a favourite among many, they are slow-growing. For sure a worthy investment for the years to come but if you are yearning for the melodic call of tūī in your backyard before then, there are other plants that feed the raucous birds.

“They also love harakeke (flax) and pohutukawa,” says Rob. “They are honey eaters so anything that has a naturally sweet nectar, tūīs will keenly seek out.”

But what about the recent return of native species to the island? As stoat numbers drop, kākā number have soared across the motu, but they aren’t the only returnees. Sightings of kākāriki and korimako are becoming far more frequent, so what kind of food do they eat?

“Kākāriki are seed-eaters,” says Rob. “They love wharariki and harakeke seeds. On Tiritiri Matangi (where kākāriki are already established) there are no harakeke seed left in the pods, they strip them out completely. We just have such an abundance of flaxes here on Waiheke, and they are an easy plant to grow in most places.”

With their strong beak and big appetites, kākā have a varied taste for fruit, nectar, insects, seeds and tree sap. While kohekohe and karaka fruits are native favourites for kākā, Rob warns they aren’t purists when it comes to their diet.

“We net the trees for the kākā, but they are pretty smart birds,” he says. “When they come around the house they find our apples, and figs, and eat any fruit. They eat conifers and stone pines too. Just about no tool will crack the cones but kākā beaks will.”

“We just love them, they are lovely to watch.”

Photo credit: Kākā by Charlie Thomas, Te Korowai o Waiheke Team Member

Rob says to remember that you don't necessarily have to plant trees to produce food, creating habitat is just as helpful. Trees provide great nesting sites but also leaf litter for nest building material and habitat for all kinds of creepy crawlies which in turn feed the insect-eating birds too.

Prune your trees

Along with planting new ones, winter is the time to prune those wayward trees on your property. Pruning in winter is not only less stressful for the tree but also gives them a chance to heal before the warmer months bring out destructive insects and pathogens.

Though this isn't the only reason to get out the loppers over winter. Karen Saunders from Waiheke Native Bird Rescue says leaving the pruning too late puts spring nesting birds at risk. “In the springtime, you're going to have eggs and baby chicks coming down with the limbs. The nests can be quite well camouflaged in the branches.”

The best way to avoid catastrophe is to plan to do your winter pruning before September and watch in springtime as birds make their homes in peace.

Watch the road

During the long winter nights, Karen also cautions drivers to be aware of more birds on road. “When we have clear sunny days and cold nights, insects are attracted to the warm road and the nocturnal ruru (moreporks) swoop down to eat them,” says Karen.

Many a ruru end up in Waiheke Native Bird Rescue Centre over winter having been hit by oncoming traffic. “Because ruru are so small, most people presume they have hit a hedgehog so it always pays to go back and check,” says Karen.

If it is a ruru, there are a few steps to take to best care for both the injured bird and handler. First and foremost, be aware of its talons. “Use a coat or a towel to pick up the bird,” says Karen. If neither are handy, a reusable shopping bag will do fine. “Turn the bag inside out and put it over your hand like a glove and pick up the bird with the protected hand. The bag can then be uncovered around the ruru and the handles tied together so it isn't able to fly around the car.” Once the bird is secure, call Native Bird Rescue on 020 473 9464 to arrange a drop off.

The quicker the call, the better the chances for survival.

How to help birds through the seasons — Winter

Winter

Plant trees

Prune your trees

Watch the road