The Animal Sanctuary continued

Starting off many many days ago, while we were still staying at the animal sanctuary:
I have quite a few animals that I have yet to introduce!
Pupe the transvestite duck of paradise: She started of as a male (dark from the neck up), and somewhere along the way became a female (white from the neck up). She's very friendly, unlike Baybee who is essentially her twin but very territorial. Baybee squawks and charges your ankles, violently nibbling on any part of your clothing or skin she can get a hold of.

Tuffa the non-indigenous possum: In Australia, these fluffy little creatures are protected and adored, however in New Zealand, they are considered pests. Many hosts tell us stories of the horror or pleasure of intentionally running over possums in their car. Apparently they eat the leaves of many native trees and cause quite a bit of damage. Everyone seems to have a different opinion of the fuzzy buggers. Tuffa is an adolescent man possum who runs about the cage excitedly when you appear, carrying his dish of fresh fruit, veg, and greens. When you enter his cage, he rears up with his stubby arms outstretched, assuming the pose of a wrestler.

Stitch and her baby:

Benji (again):

A baby Morepork: This little fellow was brought home late one night by Shawn. He was supposed to come home 3 days before, but he escaped during a cage transfer into the trees and couldn't be found until after a significant storm. He wasn't ready to be released into the wild, and went without food or proper shelter for days. When he finally made it to the Sanctuary, he was very quiet and still, and after his stay of a day and a half with us, passed away during the night.

The relatively long term Morepork resident: Michael tells us that they got their name from their call. In the night, if you listen closely, you can often hear this native owl hooting "morepork, morepork, morepork." Healthy and very alive, he resides in a large cage outside. If we got too close, he would silently fly to the next corner, his fuzzy little leg trousers dangling daintily below him.

Ducks!: This enthusiastic troupe was fed morning and evening, even though they didn't particularly need it. Only "Badbeak" and "Ahab" were actually relying on us for their food. The rest were greedy and would quickly fly up from the duck pond below to the orchards in an attempt to steal the chicken, goose, and peacock food after they'd had their fill.The first picture is Ahab, he only has one leg, and therefore we snuck him many more pellets when the other greedy ducks were distracted, fighting over a small handful.

On our second weekend at the Animal Sanctuary, Shawn had organized a fundraising benefit at a restaurant in Matakana called The Stables. She asked that I document it with my camera. Harley and I offered to manage a few tables that sold donated books and some treats. We made vegan blueberry cupcakes with vegan vanilla spice frosting for the event, and sold them to benefit the sanctuary. There was live music organized for the event, two local bands. A male quartet that is supposedly New Zealand's El Devo equivalent, and a female trio who performed skits and sang songs from many different decades (40s, 50s, 80s, and more).

This cage houses a variety of birds, but right now has some native pigeons (Kereru), and Tuis. The Tuis are playful little birds that will get within very close range. During a few feeding times, the trio would swarm the door, trying to get to the Tui juice first - flying within inches of your face, skimming the top of your head, or landing on your arm.

Below, you can see the Tuis, waiting to ambush us!

Sparky: He was rescued from a wealthy lawyer who bought him with the intention of slaughter. Sparky, barely a few months old, became tangled in an electrical fence one day and was left to struggle for days. The wire cut through his skin and even began to dig into his bone before he was discovered by a neighbor. The lawyer begrudgingly paid for an initial bandaging and then left him again, leaving his first bandage on despite his need to be re-bandaged almost daily. Upon our arrival, Sparky was bandage free for the first time since his rescue a year ago.

Solomon:

Bartholomew and Romeo (the miniature horse):

Rosita and Jose: The poop munching Kunekunes (I've caught them in the act).  If you remember Violet the 6 week old Kunekune from our first host, Fiona, this is what she'll look like when she grows up. A little less cute, in my humble opinion. Especially when they gorge themselves on fresh, moist excrement, greedily smacking their feast down.

Charles: My favorite peacock of the three humble princes (Charles, Henry and one other). It took him a while to warm up to me, but nearing the end of the two week stay, he would approach me willingly, knowing I had fresh, tasty peas and corn for his supper.

Kingfisher: He came the day before we left, I think. We each had the opportunity to help feed him though.

Helping Michael replace the "gib" (sheetrock) in the garage. This is my favorite picture I've taken so far! We're in the background, laughing hysterically at Michael's confusion. And he claims to be very unphotogenic, pish posh! We're 'using our heads' to hold the gib in place.

The view eastward from the living room, the very distant blue that isn't the sky, is the ocean!

Our most wonderful accommodation, our room is on the left side, we had a whole wing of the house to ourselves.

We were here until Wednesday the 28th of March. Afterwards, we met up with Geoff and Lynne in Mangawhai. I don't have wifi access to get pictures online yet, but will post a blog about our brief stay with them and our current (ammmmazing) home in Tauranga.