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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