Cockatiel moved from perch with hose

A cockatiel that could not be shifted from a Hastings tree for about a week was blasted down by firefighters using a hose yesterday.

The cockatiel had been refusing to budge from its perch in a tree on a lifestyle block, withstanding even the winds and rain which uprooted, knocked off branches and defoliated dozens of other trees throughout the Napier-Hastings area the previous day.

A shot from the fire service hose knocked the defiant bird out of the tree, and it dropped to the ground, sodden but apparently uninjured.

Station officer Ray Burrell said the deed was done with the bird owner's "full approval".