Dear Natalia.
Please remember that your neighbour is just as fond of his captive
budgie as you are of 'your' young wild Butcherbirds - and he probably
paid money for it, or was given the bird as a present. If it was killed
or even badly frightened he would be very distressed - particularly if
the Butcherbird dragged it out through the wires, hung it up in a forked
branch, and pulled the body to pieces where he could see it. A grisly
sight though perfectly normal. This is the reason why Butcherbirds got
their name - they look just like a slaughterman or butcher working on a
carcass ( a common sight when I was young).
Our birdbath at the family holiday house used to attract small birds
of many species. Thornbills, Blue Wrens, native finches, silvereyes,
and small honeyeaters dived in and splashed all day long. Then my
brother took to feeding Magpies and Butcherbirds, and the small birds
all disappeared at once. They have never come back and the only
honeyeaters brave enough for a drink and bathe are the Red Wattlebirds,
which are bullies in their own right. I miss the small birds very much.
Your neighbour may not be responsible for the loss of the young
butcherbirds at all. Youth is a dangerous time for all or young birds
and they may have been taken by hawks, owls, cats, or dogs or flown into
cars or windows. Keep on providing water, but don't try to tame birds -
it just makes them more vulnerable to various predators, including humans.
Keep watching birds!
Anthea Fleming
Natalia Atkins wrote:
Hi, This is my first email to the Birding Australia group, so first
off I'd like to say Hi and thankyou all for offering these interesting
discussons (about my favourite topic)
I've been following some of the threads and learning a lot!
I apologise in advance for the long post, and thank you for taking
time out of your day to read it.
I have a problem regarding local grey butcherbirds here in Brisbane,
and I'm not sure how to handle it (or whether I should just let it
go).
As most of you know, the drought has hit brissy quite hard and so like
many locals, I have set up a bird bath in my yard to attract the local
birds and offer a bit of water to help out.
The water attracts a variety of birds, but we've absolutely fallen in
love with a family of grey butcherbirds, and another family of
Kookaburras. We toss them a bit of mince meat here and there and
they've become very tame (or, more likely, were previously tamed by
other people).
Anyway we were overjoyed by the birdlife being in our garden until a
month ago, when our neighbour said he didn't want them around. He said
that the birds, being predators, sit and watch his budgie, which he
hangs in a little cage on his clothes line. He is concerned that they
will attack it or eat it, and is frustrated that his yard attracts
Hawks, Kookaburras, Butcherbirds, and Minors which all like sitting
around in his yard watching his budgie.
Anyway, he blames me for this, and can't see that part of the problem
is that his budgie being pegged out like bait on his clothes line is
attracting the predatory birds to his yard, not just the water bath in
my yard.
Anyway, he `told me off' and said he is going to kill any predatory
bird that comes into his yard, and that if I care about them, I'll
stop feeding them and get rid of the water bath.
I explained to him that its illegal and said he didn't care; its his
yard he can do anything he wants.
Well, we decided to keep the bath. But we have stopped feeding the
birds mince in my yard. I resent this situation like h*ll, and I have
been very upset about the whole thing.
Anyway, the tamest of all the birds by far were this years batch of
baby grey butcherbirds. I've tried to change their habit of visiting
us each day by feeding them in the park across the road, but they keep
coming back and looking at the neighbour's budgie!
The problem is they are so tame and trusting, it wouldn't take much
for a determined neighbour to lure them close enough to trap and kill
them.
Over the last month since the neighbour threatened to kill the birds,
2 of the 7 month old baby butcherbirds have disappeared. Its an
absolutely gut wrenching experience as I've become so close and
attached to them. I fear all the time that the other remaining baby
and adults will be killed by him, then the Kookaburras. It feels like
someone killing my pets, you know? And maybe he's not doing it, and
they are just dying from something else?
But I worry so much about it and he seems cruel enough to act on his
threats.
So I don't really know what to do. I have discussed it with family and
friends, and I think the most overwhelming response I got was `they're
just birds' or `butcherbirds are pests'.
I had no idea people felt this way about them. I even rang the EPA
about reporting illegal killing of protected birds. They told me they
regarded them as pests too and sided with the guy! They said I
couldn't make an anonymous report, and that I'd need photos of him
actually killing the birds if I wanted to take it further legally.
Which is fair enough, but I felt like my concerns were trivialised and
that noone really gives a hoot.
So I feel that at this point, short of stalking the neighbour with
surveillance gear, I just have to let it go and live with the pain of
losing these little friends, one by one. Its killing me inside, but I
just can't think of what else to do.
If anyone has any suggestions or has experienced anything like it, I
would really appreciate an outside opinion. And thanks for listening;
it means a lot.
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