Manukau Beautification Charitable Trust gets in on the act!

Manukau Beautification Charitable Trust’s (MBCT’s )‘Boomer Boys’ have made 96 birds (that’s 24 bar-tailed godwits, 24 wrybills, 24 South Island pied oystercatchers, and 24 red knots) in the Trust’s Boomer Businesses, a community shed for men and women aged over 50.

Boomer Boy Jack with the cutouts.

And the MBCT's Alzheimer’s group has primed them, making them ready for painting and decorating.

Getting the birds primed for decoration.

Pukorokoro Miranda is planning to invite students from Manukau schools to decorate them - and take the time to learn about the amazing shorebirds on their doorstep.

Anita Curlett, project manager at MBCT, told us a bit about why they are helping out with The Flock: "With our theme being ‘Water for Life’, Southern Seabirds Solutions and Forest and Bird partnered with us at Eye on Nature to share their message why Seabirds are important. We feel that The Flock continues on with our concept this year and is a hugely important environmental issue to support."

The Alzheimer's group are "loving and getting right into this new project" according to Anita.

"Sometimes this is all it takes, for these men and women, to feel useful and needed in their local community."

Auckland’s harbours are important habitats for shorebirds. They congregate on the Manukau harbour from Waiuku, Karaka, up through to Ambury Park and to heavily populated north shores of the Manukau. Ambury Regional Park is a great spot in Auckland for getting a good look at godwits, wrybills, red knots and even spoonbills!

MBCT does a huge amount of work to keep Auckland beautiful. It recently organised a clean up of Manukau's Puhinui Stream, setting the New Zealand record for the largest number of volunteers – 1900 – at an environmental clean-up! Wow!

A big thanks to the Boomer Boys, the Alzheimer's group and MBCT for contributing to The Flock!