QUACKY TALENT
NELSON TEEN HOLLY IRVINE’S QUACKY TALENT REALLY IS FOR THE BIRDS!
Nelson teen Holly’s a champion duck caller
For 30 minutes or more a day, 13-year-old Holly Irvine speaks another language. And it’s not just any language, in case you’re wondering, it’s duck!
While it can’t be said that duck is in fact a recognised language, there’s a reason for the dialect. The Nelson teen is a duck caller – and a good one at that.
She happens to be on par with some of the best in the world, having placed sixth in the recent World Junior Duck Calling championships.
Starting the unique hobby when she was eight, Holly is following in her father
Geoff’s footsteps.
“It was just something I was brought up with,” says her dad Geoff (48). “It started with me. Whatever we did outdoors, Holly had to be a part of it. Surfing, kayaking – you name it, she would have to be involved.”
Holly agrees. With her family coming from a hunting background, she wanted to join in but it had to be an age-appropriate hobby. Little did she know, it would be her hidden talent.
“I couldn’t really pick up a gun and shoot it because I was pretty young, so I decided to get into calling,” she says. “I really wanted to be outdoors and now I practise every day.”
A pond in Nelson is where Holly can be found practising after school. She’s even known to mimic ducks at home.
“It’s surprised me how good she’s got in a really short time,” admits Geoff. “She was this cute little kid who practised and was okay, then all of a sudden – boom!
“Holly’s always been really single-minded in whatever she has wanted to achieve. She hates not being good at something. If she wants to achieve a goal, she will.”
The aim of duck calling, aptly suggested by its name, is to sound as close to a live duck as possible. To do this, Holly uses a duck call, similar to a traditional whistle.
“It can be made out of wood or acrylic and it has a reed, which you blow into,” Holly explains.
“It’s just repetition over and over again, driving her poor mother Andrea mad,” Geoff tells with a laugh.
“Well, Mum normally just says go into the other room,” Holly adds.
“Yeah, it’s very loud,” Geoff agrees. “But having said that, all jokes aside, Andrea is very encouraging and wants her to do well. She’s pushed her way more than I have.”
Holly is the first to say that being outdoors is what she loves to do and it’s her own determination that has seen her set some lofty goals.
“When you’re out hunting, I suppose you use skills like going out and seeing how the ducks react to your call, which is really cool because you are part of nature,” tells Holly. “You are responding to them and they are responding back – it’s like talking to them.”
Holly usually carries her duck call around with her and says it’s something her friends find quite cool.
“My friends think I’m different, but in a good way. I don’t really know anybody at my school or anybody my age that does duck calling around Nelson.
“I was asked to do it in front of the whole school. It went pretty good. Everyone was fine about it and saying how
‘ We’ve had ducks fly past, Holly will call them and they’ll come and land in the car park’
cool it was,” she tells proudly.
As one of the top competitors in New Zealand, Holly travelled to Maryland in the US to compete on the world stage. Competitive duck-calling, she explains, involves a routine that shows off the range of different calls you can do. It’s performed in front of hundreds of people with the person who sounds most like a real-life duck crowned the winner.
And it’s a lucrative hobby with well-known American callers thought to be signing product sponsorship deals.
“My goal is to become the junior world champion,” reveals Holly.
Geoff is the epitome of a proud dad and says he knows that his duck-whispering daughter will always achieve whatever she puts her mind to.
“We’ve had ducks fly past, Holly will call them and they’ll come and land in the car park or on our back lawn – just weird stuff like that. It’s a bit of a buzz,” he laughs.
“We really need less of kids doing duck lips on Snapchat, and more of kids getting out in nature and doing stuff,” he says.
Although he has a word of warning for any potential boyfriends for his daughter.
“God help those boys. She can shoot a gun, hunt and call better than any of them. She can do just about anything better – she can hold her own against any of them.
“She’s a great kid and I’m very proud of her.”