Mike Hicks' favourite native bird is the tui. And it's no wonder as he has been feeding them sugar water at his home in Havelock North for 18 years. Video Warren Buckland.
One man's care for the tūī of Havelock North is bringing song and native seeds to his transformed neighbourhood.
Hicks has devoted 18 years to nourishing what began as six to 10 tūī regulars at his bird-box feeder, which now hosts up to 60 of the poi-breasted birds.
The feederis filled with around 60 litres each day of Hicks' home-made nectar, a simple concoction of sugar and water. Generations of tūī have now relished his sugar-water recipe and grown with his care.
The practice is sanctioned by Forest and Bird, who recommend an ideal ratio of one cup of sugar to eight of water.
Mike Hicks in front of his sugar water feeding station, which has transformed his garden into a tūī wonderland. Photo / Warren Buckland
"We've got families of them there that have been around for at least three to five years and we can tell it's them as some of them look a bit different," Hicks says.
A crooked-wing or a broken leg have helped Hicks identify his regulars, who have made his garden home.
The tūī have taken to congregating on Hicks' cherry tree that grows closest to the feeder.
The tūī will be getting hungry Hicks explains, given it's mid-winter and "that's the time of year when there's the least amount of flowers around and they come in to get a drink."
"At the moment the male ones are getting a bit more boisterous as we are getting closer to spring, and they fluff their feathers up in the tree and have a go at another male and start singing trying to get the females' attention."
The cacophony of tūī song has become the soundtrack of Hicks' garden late into the evening, and even the middle of the night.
"When you're out in the garden it's just really loud - it's deafening the sound of all the tūī.
"It's an absolutely amazing sound and they just go on and on and on."
The tūī have also been responsible for bringing native seeds to the neighbourhood, Hicks says.
The garden has become a massive asset for Havelock North. Photo / Warren Buckland
"In my garden every year we get tōtara trees, rimu trees, a lot of native trees just coming up near the tūī box, obviously they're coming from the tūī because we have no tōtara or rimu trees in the valley, so they're eating seeds somewhere and bringing them back."
These trees have recently been planted at the Tauroa Reserve in Havelock North.
