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Today’s face of the day is a one-eyed Tui chick that my daughter and I rescued during our walk on Monday morning. He walked up to us musically peeping and clearly in need of help. It was a very hot day and it was obvious that he had met with a mishap after leaving the nest for the first time. He would have died either from the heat or a cat or a car in another few hours so we picked him up and attempted to give him some water. Most of the one hour walk he spent perched on my shoulder shaded by my broad-brimmed hat.
I shared photos of him with the team in our online office and not everyone was convinced that he was a Tui. While I felt 80% certain that he was (after checking images on Google and watching a YouTube video), I was prepared to be proved wrong. However, he was happy eating Tui-appropriate food (honey mixed with flour and water) and turned down tiny snails and a little slug.
As much as we wanted to keep him until he was old enough to be released the bird specialist at our local vet told us that due to his missing eye he needed specialist care. She also confirmed that he was indeed a Tui.
We enjoyed feeding him while we had him but he now is living at the NZ Bird Rescue in Green Bay.
It was a special experience to be able to hold and feed a native bird.
