Gone to the Birds! – Results from NEV for the 2024 NZ Garden Bird Survey

The results are in, and we can count ourselves lucky here in North East Valley! Thanks to students from Otago Polytechnic and the Nature Club at North East Valley Normal School, we were able to contribute data for the 2024 NZ Bird Count from four different locations in North East Valley. Observations were made between 29 June – 7 July, and sites included Chingford Park, Bethune’s Gully, Wilkinson Street Park in Pine Hill, and the North East Valley Community Garden behind the Normal School. Manu pango (blackbirds), korimako (bellbirds) and pīwakawaka (fantail) were observed at all four sites. Students at Chingford Park and the community garden were fortunate to observe tūī, and a few of the students in Nature Club spotted a flock of Eastern Rosellas. Other species counted in North East Valley included song thrush, kereū (pigeon), tiu (house sparrow), tauhou (silvereye), and gulls (black-backed and red-billed) amongst others. 

Want to encourage more feathered friends to hang out in your backyard? Creating habitat and providing natural food sources are some of the best things you can do for birds. When choosing the native plants you want, consider what occurs naturally in Dunedin in order to provide a good supply of nectar, fruit and foliage year round. For example korimako and tūī eat fruit, nectar, and insects; while kererū eat just fruit and foliage. Don’t feed bread to any species of bird. If you want to supplement food, try sugar water or leave some leaf litter around to attract yummy insects. 

Head over to www.gardenbirdsurvey.nz to find results from across New Zealand.