Although I would recommend planting natives in preference to bamboo, in
addition to the bird species mentioned by Philip, I have observed Silvereyes
and Red-browed Firetails forage and/or shelter in bamboo clumps around
Sydney.
Stephen Ambrose
Ryde NSW
-----Original Message-----
From:
On Behalf Of Philip Veerman
Sent: Friday, 3 May 2013 5:57 PM
To: 'Chris Melrose'; 'Chris King'
Cc: 'Birding Aus'
Subject: Is bamboo bird habitat? - inner Sydney
It depends what is the intended use. What Chris King wrote does not indicate
that the developer has any intention that the plantings be of value to
birds, so I would prefer to address that question first. Otherwise what is
the point?
I hope I am not generalising too much here: Bamboo are species of grass and
thus they are flowering plants, so it has flowers, but as grass is wind
pollinated, the flowers are small. I think the point from Christine Melrose
is that the flowers don't have nectar, so that honeyeaters won't use them. I
don't know about all bamboo but many large grasses produce large seed heads
that many birds such as House Sparrows like to use as nest lining (Pampas
grass in particular though I don't know if that is a bamboo -probably not).
As far birds go, bamboo, once it is big enough is a good overnight roosting
site for communal species such as House Sparrows, Common Mynas and Common
Starlings. That is not a good bird option and you can well suggest that as a
deterrent, that it will very likely attract noisy and dirty activities of
birds that most people don't want (dusk noise, lots of poops).
I can't think of any benefit that bamboo would bring to the area in terms of
helping with native birds. But is that the intent of the developer? There
are many other considerations. A food source for pandas in case Taronga zoo
ever gets them again?
Philip
-----Original Message-----From:
On Behalf Of Chris Melrose
Sent: Friday, 3 May 2013 3:16 PM To: Chris King Cc: Birding Aus
Subject: Is bamboo bird habitat? - inner Sydney
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