Unexpected passengers keep ute parked

Ade Steele checks on the squatter family living in her ute's engine bay. Photo / Peter de Graaf

A Far North woman is unable to use her ute for the next three weeks because a squatter family with five kids is using it as their home.

You'd think Ade Steele would be annoyed about losing her wheels for that long. On the contrary - she's delighted a starling has chosen her ute's engine bay as a nest site.

Mrs Steele, who lives at Pakaraka, normally drives a Mazda ute while husband Tony drives a Subaru stationwagon.

She'd been driving the Subaru for a few weeks while Mr Steele is overseas - he's team doctor for the New Zealand under-17 football side playing in Chile - but needed to use the ute to pick up something bulky. Just as she started the engine she remembered something her husband had said about rats trying to nest under the bonnet.

Ade Steele can't use her ute until these young starlings have left the nest.

When she took a peek she found a bird's nest with a clutch of five pale blue eggs, wedged into a space between the windscreen-washing tank and the power steering reservoir.

"I thought I'd better check under the bonnet. The nest was right across the engine so if I'd driven off it would've started a fire, as well as killing the birds."

Mrs Steele hasn't touched the ute since except to check on the family. The eggs hatched on Tuesday into five chicks which are all mouth and a little fluff.

Their mother reaches the nest by flying under the car and around the engine. Mrs Steele said it comes and goes constantly during the day and spends the night under the bonnet.

Her research has told her it will be three weeks before the chicks fledge.

"So I can't use my ute for another three weeks, but I'm happy because I couldn't bear the thought of killing them. They're so cute. It'll be neat to see them leave the nest."

With just one vehicle that can be driven Mrs Steele expects a few car conflicts when her husband returns this weekend, but she's adamant the starlings won't be evicted.

It's not the first time birds have chosen an awkward nesting spot at the Steele home. They regularly build nests in the chimney, despite protective netting, and Mrs Steele has so far had to rescue a kingfisher, three starlings and sparrow after they fell down the chimney into the wood burner.

Like the ute, the fireplace is off limits until the nesting season finishes.