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Re: blackface

To:
Subject: Re: blackface
From: Peter Woodall <>
Date: Wed, 06 Jul 2005 12:53:55 +1000
Hi David

You do seem to be having a "bad hair day" today but unfortunately I think that many
of your comments are true.

At the risk of bringing the wrath of the "anti-feeding" lobby down on my head, I'll make
the following suggestion.

I wonder if the lack of connection of the great urban population in Australian with birds (and also other components of nature) has to do with the lack of bird feeding practised here. In the UK nearly every second suburban house has a bird feeder in the garden and
they spend a fortune on replenishing these with peanuts, suet ,etc, etc.
Apart from feeding the birds this has the great advantage of bringing them up close t
o the inhabitants and many are quite knowledgeable about the birds.
You only have to look at the great success and membership of the RSPB
(over 1 million members I think) to realize how true this is. Don't we just wish that we
had a similar proportion of the population in our bird clubs.

In North America there are also lots of nut/seed feeders and also hummingbird feeders that again bring the birds up close and I guess give the human participants some feeling of "ownership"
and protection over the birds.... this surely leads to greater interest.

For some reason this culture of bird feeding hasn't developed in Australia.
I realise that the "anti-feeders" will probably say it is a good thing to!
I don't agree but I also don't think that it is their opposition to feeding that has
really discouraged it, except in a few cases.  Maybe it is just an attitude of
"they'll be right mate" or just plain don't care.

I really think that most of the arguments against feeding here are largely spurious. What are the great detrimental affects from feeding in the UK and NA? Many of the anti-feeders here are often quite happy to put out water for birds. What is the difference?
They both represent  resources that are probably limiting to some extent.

Having stirred the fire a little, I'll now stand back from all the flames.

Pete



At 11:37 AM 6/07/2005 +1000, you wrote:

"The responsibility should lie squarely on the shoulders of all of you. If we all devote even a couple of hours a year to doing a talk to the public or something similar, then we hopefully will leave a legacy of beautiful birds for our children to look at long after we have gone."

Wonderful sentiments. The problem is that those of us that regularly do get out and talk to the public start seeing the same faces over and over. The rest of public are at home watching Big Brother and really couldn't give a xxxx.

Again, sad but true.

I'm trying hard to think of something positive to say but you only have to read the papers, watch the evening news or even spend a bit of time looking at how people live nowadays to see that for the vast majority of people nature is well down the priority list. Now, people may say "the environment" is important to them but I'm convinced that most would have no idea what they mean by that.

It could be that I have a different slant on this than many, having been raised a country boy and, except for two very very long years I spent in Melbourne, have always lived in the country. I'm surrounded by people that do have a real "connection to nature". It's clear that everyone on this list also has the same connection and have a network of like-minded people. Step out of that circle for a while and look at the people in the next suburb to you and what do you see. How many of those people in the endless stretch of roof tiles really care about whether the last family group of Fairy-wrens in the suburb have just been decimated by someone's pet cat?

I'm really on a downer today, aren't I?

David Geering
Regent Honeyeater Recovery Coordinator
Department of Environment & Conservation
P.O. Box 2111
Dubbo  NSW  2830
Ph: 02 6883 5335 or Freecall 1800 621 056
Fax: 02 6884 9382



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