Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
Welcome to the summer edition of the New Zealand Backyard Birds newsletter.  Once again it seems like everyone  has decided to give bird feeders for gifts this year but fortunately we learned our lesson over the last three years and are keeping up with the orders coming in.

A big thank you to all those who have placed orders with us, or signed up to our newsletter this year. You have helped to make it another busy but fantastic year for us. We are really enjoying building a business based on our desire to see birds coming back and living in our New Zealand urban environments.
The amount of feedback and photos we receive from our customers is incredible and we are really heartened by all the new customers that tell us we were recommended by friends. 

One thing we have noticed this year is the amount of feeders being bought by, or for, elderly people. We have had some incredible feedback from their friends and relatives telling us just how much the simple act of feeding the local wild birds has meant to them. The common theme to this feedback is that filling the feeders gives the elderly something to do each day and also television watching has been replaced by sitting at the window or on the deck watching the visitors to their feeders.
During the year we supplied feeders that were installed in rest homes as part of research into elderly activities. This has resulted in other rest homes buying feeders after hearing what a success they had been.

Many of our original customers are also telling us how they have gone from putting up a single feeder to creating a complete habitat for the local birds in their backyards with nesting boxes, bird baths and specially planted bird friendly bushes. This has not only resulted in a noticeable increase in the numbers and types of birds seen in their area but also provided the people with an enjoyable hobby. May of these people have also commented on how many of their neighbors have caught the bird feeding "bug" as a result.
Its nice to know that we are making a difference in many areas.  

Summer is a fairly stress free time to be a backyard bird feeder. Most birds have raised their first chicks and these are old enough to be able to fend for themselves. Their parents will have shown them where to find food and many of you will notice the increase in numbers around the feeders as these chicks start looking after themselves.
We were amused to watch a young, very vocal, Blackbird demanding food from his poor overworked parents who spent about an hour flying back and forth bring food. In the end I think the parents decided on some tough love and flew away at which stage the youngster happily started hopping around the garden feeding himself. I'm sure there is a moral in there somewhere.

The most important thing at this time of year for the birds is water.
 As a society we have become experts at ridding our streets of water almost as fast as it falls. Our roads and footpaths are smooth and well draining with none of the bumps and hollows of yesteryear where water could sit in puddles for days before disappearing. We have also used culverts to take streams and creeks underground as a safety and aesthetic measure.
The result in many of our towns and cities is a complete lack of available water within days of a rainfall. So please put out water for your local birds,  keep your bird baths topped up and, if possible, keep an area of the garden moist to encourage insects and worms, as well as make it easier for the ground feeding birds to dig into the ground. The moist dirt will also help the Swallows with their nest building.

 We hope you all have a great Christmas.

Christmas Orders - We have had several enquiries asking if orders will be delivered before Christmas.
We dispatch our orders within 24 hours of receiving them via NZ Post. Delivery to a North Island address normally takes 3 - 4 days and 4 - 5 days to the South Island.
Our Dove Cotes and Platform Feeders are sent via Mainfreight and can take longer to be delivered.
As Christmas approaches these times may increase due to the sheer amount of  mail.
We will be open until Christmas eve and would expect any orders placed on or before Friday 18 December to be delivered before the big day.