Birds That seem to be disappearing (Feathered ones Fellas)

G/Day RR, The national Park is probably the reason why, Urban development is constantly pushing wildlife to other areas.


Cheers Axle

Hi Axle

You'r right about the urban development pushing the wildlife out.
About 1 kilometer from me they are widening a major road. and have cut down a large number of trees. We now have a large increase in the koala population in the back yard. Unfortunately have also seen a couple hit on the road since work began.

Cheers Teza

Hi Val. I guess you don't have Indian Minor birds down there. In the Shellharbour area they have driven most of the smaller birds away to the extent we mainly see Magpies and Starlings in our residential area. I see a very occational Rainbow Lorrikeet in our Grevillia sometimes. Cheers,Bob

Hi Val ,We are on the Central Coast, There is still a few pockets where the bird life is still plentifull, ...but being a long time resident you realise its nothing like it used to be.

Cheers Axle.

Hi Toyocrusa,

Yes we have had our share of Indian Mynas as they spread out from the suburbs. About 3 years ago we joined the Canberra Indian Myna group have a look here. WE built a trap at one of the trap building workshops and caught 30 or 40 of the wrethced things - far more than I realised were hanging around. Since then we have only seen 2 or 3 birds each year.

The Canberra trapping has been quite successful and has reduced the myna population a lot, and has also caught a lot of starlings. It has started up in other places too. Maybe there is a group near you?

Cheers,

Val

As posted below we had a Myna accident
=====================================
I had flocks of these infesting my carport

I accidentally spilt 2 kg of plain white rice in there and forgot to clean it up

sadly these feral pests came and ate the lot ...... I have not seen them since.

Apparently the rice swells in their crop and gut and is fatal to them :-(


ooops !

My mistake

Guys & gals,

This is great!
I hate those birds with a passion. I have seen them throw out baby parrots & take over the nest.
I am relieved to know that others care enough to help our indiginous birds so thank you.

By the way a rat trap with a strawberry works for blackbirds.

Cheers
Stu

Hi Stu, thought the blackbird was protected ?? these birds are ok, just like digging around in the garden alot and kicking the bark every where !!! I presume we are refering to the same bird ?? Indian Minors I will try and kill every one of them lice infested pests, Was reading a report about them the other day and 2 of these things can bring a crow down while in flight. And Axle is write I reckon in regards the birds in suburbia, We are in Glenmore Park (which is 5 minutes from Penrith) and the only birds we seem to have around here now are Indian Minor's, compared to 14 years ago We have bird bath up the back which I use to see all different breeds feeding from it, but I refuse to put food and water in it to feed those pests. I like the idea of the rice in the reply above, might give that a try. My father inlaw traps them and gasses them with the car exhaust in a plastic bag.....................

I can assure you that rice is a natural part of a seed eating birds diet and will do them no harm what so ever. I'm sure they are grateful for the free feed too.

Natural rice is a part of their diet

White rice is polished and dried before sale and is not a natural seed

One day we had flocks of the ferals 2 days later not a one :-)


Like I said "ooops"

G'day Kimba10,

The Blackbird is a feral import and competes with the Speckled thrush (native) by digging around in the leaf litter in our forest also.
Sorry but I just will not accept them on our property & part of our Trust for Nature agreement states that we need to control weeds & pest animals.

Fortunatly we don't have Indian Mynas because they do not like the heavy forest on our property.

Cheers
Stu

I'm going to get a bag of white rice and two beers. I will drink the beers whilst holding the bag of rice. When I attempt to stand up I will definately spill the rice and that will be a really good excuse. Thanks for the tip Doug. Bob.
lol.

Gee Stu, glad i'm not a blackperson living near you, You may class me as a feral import also and get rid of me!!!!!!!!

Thats funny Krakka. I am just really passionate about our native wildlife & I will go to great lengths to protect it.

Once again. Rice of any sort will not harm birds.

http://www.snopes.com/critters/crusader/birdrice.asp

Bushy , Its a similar story in a lot of areas now , They need culling...Lol.


Cheers Axle.

I had flocks of these infesting my carport

I accidentally spilt 2 kg of plain white rice in there and forgot to clean it up

sadly these feral pests came and ate the lot ...... I have not seen them since.

Apparently the rice swells in their crop and gut and is fatal to them :-(


ooops !

My mistake

Hi Rocco, Thanks for the reply, its interesting to see whats happening on the other side of the country, ..The ol Willie Wag tail used to luv sitting on a horses back plucking out a hair or two for their nest, its ages since there been around our area.

Cheers Axle.

Hi Rocco, we live in the Hills of Perth and have Black Cockatoo's, Galahs, Kookaburras, magpies, Mud Larks, little finches, and also Willie Wagtails, among some of the birds up here, also the 28,s, (also known as Ring Necks in the East) and the very occasional Lorikeet, the 28's and the Lorikeets try to strip our fruit trees but we've put covers over the trees this year.
I always thought the increase in the Galah population here in the South was due to the drought in the Northern and Eastern wheatbelt areas, just my thoughts.
The black Cockatoo's we get up here are the Barnaby's and the Red Tails, but strangely they don't come at the same time, one part of the year we get the Barnaby's and when they move on the Redtails move in.
The other day we had, what looked like, two Pied Butcherbirds, they came in under out patio and sat on the chairs, I think they were after our dog's food, didn't seem concerned at all with us, I was even able to get close enough to take a photo of them.
We are starting to notice the odd crow around our house as well, I believe they are becoming quite the menace down there in the city.
Cheers
D

Greetings.
I spend literally half my life birding in Australia. Mainly the West.
Just a few corrections. The 28 mentioned earlier and the Port Lincoln are not one and the same bird. They are different subspecies.
The 28's habitat is the South West of Western Australia from Perth down to Albany. The Port Lincoln as far North as Port Hedland.

The Barnaby mentioned is the Carnaby. I would doubt you see this bird around Perth. This subspecies is now endangered and hangs around near the Fitzgerald River national park, 2 hours North East of Albany. The white tailed black Cockatoo seen around Perth would be the Baudin black cockatoo.

Keep in mind that the Red tailed black cockatoo has 5 subspecies, all in different parts of Australia..

Australia bird life is very diverse. I love it!

cheers, Case, Tauranga, New Zealand.

Hi caseh, thanks for all that information, it's most interesting. I must admit being quite the novice on the bird species, I only call them the names I've grown up with. I haven't studied bird life as you obviously have. (BTW, the Barnaby was supposed to be the Carnaby, where's the edit button? LOL) I do love watching them and their antics though. I shall call the Black Cockatoos 'White Tail' and Red 'Tails' in the future LOL, what ever they are they are a beautiful bird. As for the 28s, I actually did know that the Port Lincoln Parrot was different to the 28, however, if you say that the 28 is only in the South West of WA, could you tell me the relationship to the 'Ringneck' which I believe is the name for the speices in SA, Once again, it's only what I've grown up with. I would love to have the time to study Flora and Fauna, I find it quite fascinating.
Cheers
D

Greetings Dunworkin.
The main species is the Australian ringneck - Barnardius zonarius.
There are a total of 4 subspecies.. The main subspecies in WA is the Port lincoln, scientific name for this subspecies zonarius. You can observe this subspecies as far north as Port Hedland, the Western part of South Australia and the South West of NT.

Than there is the 28 in the South West of WA, race semitorguatus.

Throughout most of NSW the South of Queensland and the Eastern part of South Australia is the race barnardi.

A small area on the Queensland and NT border is the subspecies macgillivrayi.

Don't try to remember all this though. I too use a book.

If members are only the slightest bit interested in birds, may I recommand the Broome Bird observatory. A lovely stay just out of Broome and you pick up stuff along the way as most people there have some interest in birds.

Regards, Case

Hi Gramps!!!......So what have you got that we haven't...:)))))))


Cheers Axle.

Hahaha must be the pure, fresh Sydney air :)))

Given the housing development in surrounding suburbs (who said there was a decline in the building industry ????? ), we might be in danger of losing some of our feathered friends. Happy to see the bloody plovers go, damn nuisance birds, and I'll continue to cull those rats with wings (Indian Mynahs).

Regards

G'day Al, long time no talk. Spoke to Willie a few months ago though.

We have the Crimsons here too, Willie Wagtails, Blue Wrens along the Victorian SW coast. Shrike Thrush I love to hear, and love to see Land Rails along the road sides, running for cover. Plovers seem to get along with people OK, though I used to hate laying awake hearing their calls early morning well before cow time.

Too many blackbirds, sparrows and starlings though. I have trapped a few sparrows and must get back to that :-) Wish people wouldn't feed sea gulls all their waste feed as they just breed and breed.

Koalas seem to migrate up and down the local roads giving them a good range. Feral deer a bit of a danger to cars at times, though six small ones appeared around the house a few years ago

G'day John, it has been a long time. Have'nt heard from Willie for a good while.

We've got a Common Koel set up in the backyard driving us nuts with his constant calling. A heap of Grass Parrots that just keep breeding plus the usual magpies, wood ducks, corellas, galahs, cockatoos, noisy miners, butcher birds, magpie larks, etc etc etc.

Definitely no shortage of feathered friends out here.

Hi Greg,

That's a great website. Might have to become a member and do some of the surveys. Making a note of the birds we see as we travel could be another travel interest.

Cheers,

Val.

Crows or currawong ? - we have LOTS of them down here -- fly around in packs of about 10 - 15 --- not sure if the collective "Murder" applied to them as it does crows ...pic of a cuuawong >http://www.dunhackin.org/~eisen/pictures/NewZealand/2003-Jan-12/Katoomba/IMG_0947.JPG

*edit* -

Think about it :-)

Agree 100%

Good morning
Then I have really upset you Doug .

G'day Doug,

Yes this is correct!
Also people feeding seed & what ever else to all the FERAL populations of birds which compete with our native birds. We need to educate people not to do this.

Cheers
Stu

Muzbry

Yep ! ;-) Sorry but check with your local environmental groups about what is acceptable in your areas.

But as a general rule feeding wild animals is bad for the environment

ESPECIALLY feeding meat eating birds !

Goug
I only do it when the kids are here and that is no more than once a week.

Doug I pressed the wrong button "D"

I have been called MUCH worse :-)

Cheers doug

Oh come on Doug
I had a witty repartee prepared and you gave up. Oh well, next time.

The kids next door call me Grug after their caveman like book character.

I am cool with that

Repartee at will I have no objections :-)

Gday Doug
I was going to tell you about the bloke that lives up the north coast who has a family of crows that are fed three times a day as well as a paddock full of rabbits that run wild most weekends.

and ?

PS....and willie wag tails too

Hi Stu,
About 20 years ago we started replanting our bit of rocky hillside. A lot of hard work but over the years it has been great to watch as the trees grew and the birds came back. The site has been much studied and surveyed mainly because its close to unis and CSIRO, but has also had a bird survey done quarterly for about 10 years now so there is a good picture being built up across the tablelands of how the birds are using these reveg sites.

The last survey a few weeks ago included gerygones, rufous whistler, noisy friarbird, leaden flycatcher, blue wrens, grey fantails, thornbills (buff rumped, yellow rumped and striated) pallid cuckoo. Plus the usual magpies, rosellas etc. Every spring we have a few superb parrots that nest nearby and come in to feed on the wattle seeds when they are still green. For some reason many have moved into the suburbs in the last decade. We also have a family of kookaburras that are lovely to see and hear. Plus we usually see the honeyeaters flitting between the big gums as they migrate from the mountains to the coast each year.

We dont feed the birds (except for a bit of supplementary feeding of the magpies with young during the drought) but I have a water bath outside my study window. Every morning there is a parade as the wrens, thornbills, flycatchers and parrots come in for a spalsh, usually in a pretty strict sequence. Wonderful to watch.

Cheers,

Val

G'day Val,

Its real nice to see there are like minded people on this site.

Your property sounds great & it's nice to see all the hard work pay off & all the native wildlife return.

We have a property out in the Wimmera that was revegetated 12 years ago & the regrowth in the past 2 years has been amazing because of all the rain. The wildflowers & birds that have returned has really surprised us.
We did some small mammal trapping in April & caught 2 Western Pygmy possums, only the 5th & 6th caught in the vicinity for over 50 yrs.

The other property that we live on is in the foothills of the great divide in Vic & has some beautiful old growth forest which supports a huge variety of birds & mammals. We have 2 Powerful Owls in our fern gully that call most nights. It's just like having our own National Parks!

Cheers
Stu

G'day John,

Maybe they have all come for a holiday over to our place because we seem to be inundated with them at the moment!

Cheers
Stu

Thanks for placing the photo Welldone. Well done!

The Kookaburra might be an Australian icon in many people's eyes but in WA they are an introduced species and upset the ecological balance.
They do lots of damage to smaller birds like the wren and the red eared firetail.

I have seen RTb's and white tailed cockatoos in large numbers in WA. Pitty I also saw them being shot last May. Especially so as these birds fetch $15000 each in our part of the world.

Regards, Case