Jock Orr

John Hastings Orr
The memorial plaque for Orr, attached to the side of the old Chief Post Office building
Born	December 1908 (1908-12)
Died	June 15, 1988(1988-06-15) (aged 79)
Other names	Jock
Years active	1960s–80s
Known for	eccentric tourist attraction

John Hastings "Jock" Orr, more widely known as the Birdman, was a partially-sighted man that became well-known for feeding the birds in Cathedral Square, Christchurch during the 1970s–80s.

Orr was born in December 1908. He was partially-sighted, which he attributed to glare from the sun while employed cleaning windows. He had an interest in radios, going as far as to mount a battery-operated television to the handlebars of his bicycle during the 1960s.

In later life, Orr was a regular fixture in Cathedral Square, where he became well-known as one of the "eccentrics" that spent time there. He would feed the gulls in the square, and they would flock around him, including standing on his head. For this reason, he became something of a tourist attraction. When he noticed that his flock of gulls was declining in 1984, he blamed the disappearance on ultrasonic bird scarers that had been installed on some buildings in the square.

From 1972, Orr lived at the Fernwood Hostel for the Blind in Abberley Park, St Albans. In July 1988, at the age of 79, he died at Princess Margaret Hospital after being taken ill. After his death, the Animal Defender's League proposed a memorial birdbath be installed in the square to commemorate him. Despite the Christchurch City Council declining the suggestion on the grounds that they did not want a permanent structure to be installed, they did instead commission a bronze memorial plaque to be installed. The plaque, which depicted Orr with a gull standing on his head, cost NZ$1,100 and was installed onto the side of the Chief Post Office building on 14 December 1988.