The Timaru Herald 9 Apr 2020 Esther Ashby-Coventry
BEJON HASWELL/STUFF
Wuhoo co-founder Roselyn Fauth with her daughters Medinella, 5, left, and Annabelle, 1, are encouraging people to take notice of the birds in their garden.
The founders of Wuhoo Timaru hope to inspire a new generation of bird watchers with their latest lockdown challenge.
The bird watching challenge is the second of a series of stay-athome events the voluntary organisation, which promotes free activities to celebrate Timaru’s culture, environment and heritage, has come up with for the lockdown and could eventually provide some support to the district’s ailing hospitality industry.
Co-founder Roselyn Fauth said as people sit at home they could look at the birds in their garden and think about where they came from.
‘‘Some birds have always been here, some have flown here, and some were introduced.’’
The challenges, a three-way partnership between Wuhoo Timaru, Aoraki Tourism and Timaru District Council, will have prizes of vouchers for
Timaru District cafes that have been purchased via the SOS Cafe voucher campaign aimed at helping struggling hospitality outlets.
‘‘We’d love people to get involved with our challenges and be in with the chance to win vouchers for local Timaru District cafes that we’re purchasing via SOS Cafe,’’ Aoraki Tourism visitor promotions specialist Kate O’Connell said.
‘‘The challenges will include an activity and an art or photography challenge. We’ll have a different guest judge each week.’’
She said the prizes were great ways to provide support to the district’s hospitality businesses as the vouchers could be redeemed once lockdown ended.
The three organisations are rolling out information and the history of different birds and to enter a picture, which can be coloured in, can be obtained via Wuhoo’s Facebook page.
The bird challenge, which closes on Sunday, can be accessed through Facebook page wuhootimaru or the aorakitourism.co.nz website.