Whangārei Native Bird Recovery Centre receives new taxidermy birds

Whangārei Native Bird Recovery Centre's Robert Webb with Taxidermist John Nicole. Photo / Michael Cunningham

Four new birds are on display at Whangārei Native Bird Recovery Centre this week, only they're not alive, they're stuffed.

Taxidermy hobbyist John Nicole handed over four stuffed birds to the centre on Monday, including a rare white-tailed tropic bird the Advocate reported on in February.

It is the first live white-tailed tropic bird the centre had ever come across in its 36 years open, but it did not make a recovery and unfortunately died.

An unusual-looking sacred kingfisher, pale white and grey rather than colourful, is amongst the stuffed bunch.

The other birds include a rare bridled tern, which is widespread in the tropics but has only been recorded in New Zealand twice, as well as a common fluttering shearwater.

It's a real investment for the centre and will attract visitors, Whangārei Native Bird Recovery Centre manager Robert Webb said.

The pair have a clear mutual admiration for each other's work, Nicole was behind the preservation of the incredible royal albatross in Webb's office, which wingspans over 3m.

"The bigger birds are actually easier to do, it's the really tiny ones that are really difficult to do because they're small and intricate," said Nicole.

"The birds play a very important role because we get a lot of people to come in and wanting to have photographs or take measurements or artists who are wanting to make something," said Webb.

Nicole moved to Whangārei from South Africa nearly 30 years ago and said he's "lost count" of the number of taxidermy birds he's done for Webb.

Nicole is actually a qualified engineer and taxidermies as a hobby in his spare time, which started well over 50 years ago while he was still in his teens.

"I was encouraged at the time by a friend at high school who had started to preserve birds."

Webb and Nicole freeze birds after they are deceased until they are ready to be taxidermied as they decay quickly.

"It needs to be completed on the same day, so I have to wait to do anything until I can set a day aside," Nicole said.

After the bird is defrosted, Nicole cuts the bird down its chest, skins back the skin from the body and removed the flesh.

"Then you have to remove the brain and remove the eyes and that basically all the parts that can decay," Nicole said.

He uses borax powder to carefully dry out and preserve the skin of the animal.

Nicole builds a false body for the inside of the bird out of old stringy wood shavings. Wires are put through the wings and legs and are anchored into the body in place of a skeleton.