She’s been helping out behind the scenes for years, but now it’s “show time” for Judea woman Amanda Adamson and her favourite feathered friends.

Tauranga Bird Club’s annual Bird Show & Sale is this Saturday and Sunday, May 17-18, at Mount Sports Centre and, for the first time, Adamson is showing three hook beak Bourke’s parakeets.

“They were chicks from this season,” says Adamson, who was bitten by the bird-keeping bug 10 years ago.

“The bird thing? I started off with a couple of birds in 2015. My father-in-law had a little cage on the side of this house with four budgies, and I always said to my husband: ‘That’s what I’d like, one of those’. And it never happened.”

Then she came across a little patio cage and things took flight. Her first birds were a Turquoisine pair she purchased from Hamilton. “They’re like little mini parrots.”

A Turquoisine from Amanda’s Adamson’s un-number brood. Photo / Brydie Thompson

‘Quite a few…’

How many birds does she have now? “Well, I’m not really entirely sure …” What!? “Quite a few …” And how many is quite a few? “I’ve got eight aviaries.” Wow! “The little patio cage is long gone!”

Among her un-tallied brood are the Bourke’s, some Turquoisines, a pair of Barrabands “and some Red-rumped parrots, which I just recently acquired”.

Ironically, Adamson doesn’t like loud noise, so her choice of species is very particular. “All the birds I have are lovely, sweet-sounding little birds that don’t make a lot of racket. I can’t deal with racket!” (I bet the neighbours are happy). She did try cockatiels and Ringecks. “They were way too noisy for me – so they all moved on.”

In her blood

Meanwhile, as the brood grows so does the job list for Adamson’s husband. “I’ve acquired a couple of garden sheds over the years and got him to convert them into aviaries for me.” Covid lockdown was also happily spent building an aviary.

So why birds? “I just love their nature, and watching them in their little world – they’re just incredible to watch. I sit on the deck and watch them in summer and they twitter around and do these zoomies in the air. I don’t know … I just find them relaxing and I just love them.”

One of Amanda Adamson’s Rosa Bourke’s. Photo / Brydie Thompson

And the bird bug is her in blood. “I know my aunty had budgies and used to show them at the Tauranga club, and my nana had budgies too – but it’s just taken me a bit longer to get into the showing side of things. It’s been on the radar but I thought this year I’ll give it a go and just see what happens.”

The show

On Saturday, May 17, from 1pm-5pm and Sunday, May 18, from 9am-midday, the Mount Sports Centre on Maunganui Rd will come alive with a cacophony of birds talking, squawking, dancing, flicking seed out of their nests while battling for the best prizes in their respective categories.

More than 500 birds of 17 species will be exhibited. There’s “hands-on” encounter for the kids, plus raffles, a silent auction, and a range of birds and accessories for sale. Entry is $5 per adult, under-12s $3 and $12 per family.

Adamson, who joined the club in its darkest days a decade ago “when it was nearly dying” is rapt that today it is “booming!”

“So please come along and see the birds and what our club is all about,” she says.