birding-aus

Spine tailed swifts and lack of insects

To: Annabel Ashworth/Hoskins <>
Subject: Spine tailed swifts and lack of insects
From: Penny Brockman <>
Date: Thu, 02 Mar 2006 11:06:50 +1100
Dear all
I agree with Annabel - and suspect that the frequent use of chemicals has a lot to do with the decline in some birds. I don't spray in my back garden but my next door neighbour used to (now his marriage has split up and he hardly gardens at all) and another 2 yards away also sprays - all around the edges to "control" excess grass and weeds. You just have to look at the array of chemicals in supermarkets and garden nurseries - they wouldn't stock them if they didn't sell.

But despite my neighbours' best efforts, so far I have lots of flying (and non-flying) insects, including termites (so far not right in my garden), and the birds have a feeding frenzy when there is a hatch-out. A large mulberry in my garden harbours lots of midgies etc which attract many small birds, and the native shrubs planted in the last 3 years are carefully checked over by a variety of honeyeaters, thornbills, Black-faced Cuckoo-shrikes and other insectivores. If caterpillars get too thick, I pick them off into a bucket and pour boiling water on them and then throw into the compost.

There is no doubt at our place that there are less insects around in the summer, especially those little ones that used to always come through screens to the lights on a summer's night. Maybe this is because of the prolonged dry times, but agricultural and domestic use of chemicals must have a fair bit to do with it. A lot of people put most of the blame on feral cats and farmers, but I wonder how many of you are contributing by your own use of chemicals? For example - Do you often spray your vege garden or your roses?
- Does your local authority fog swamps to kill mosquitoes?
- Do you have your house sprayed for spiders etc.?


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