Peter, the risk of disease spread by birds drinking from a dripping tap is
negligible. The biggest risk is faecal and dander contamination of feeding
sites, and the risk of bird-to-bird transmission of diseases like
psittacosis as birds jostle for position on the feeder.
Simon Robinson
-----Original Message-----
From: Birding-Aus On Behalf Of
Sent: Thursday, 4 February 2016 4:00 AM
To:
Subject: Birding-Aus Digest, Vol 28, Issue 3
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Today's Topics:
1. Re: Feeding wild birds (Peter Shute)
2. Re: Feeding wild birds (Casimir Liber)
3. Common Mynas (Geoff Ryan)
4. Re: Feeding wild birds (Greg and Val Clancy)
5. Re: Feeding wild birds (Tony Russell)
6. Re: Feeding wild birds (casliber0134)
7. Re: Differrent breeds co-operating (Barney Enders)
8. Re: Feeding wild birds (Carl Clifford)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Wed, 3 Feb 2016 05:19:10 +1100
From: Peter Shute <>
To: Penny Brockman <>
Cc: Birding-aus <>
Subject: Feeding wild birds
Message-ID: <>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Regarding the spread of disease via bird baths, we have birds that come and
hang upside down drinking from a very slow drip from a garden tap (about a
drip per minute). Could disease be spread that way?
Regarding leaving pet food outside, I suspect that's a major food source for
mynas in some places, and foxes too.
Peter Shute
On 2 Feb 2016, at 8:25 PM, Penny Brockman <> wrote:
>
> The other factors are transmission of disease, as detailed concisely
> by Simon Robinson. How many times a week do you clean your feeders? I
> know quite a few people who seldom or never do. I have bird baths
> which I scrub out when they get grotty but I don't use disinfectants,
> so I am also guilty. Reason is I don't want to pour this disinfectant
> rich water into the surrounding soil.
> Remember that bread is very bad for some species, and particularly so
> for kangaroos (not birds !), and never leave your dog or cat food in
> the open, on the kitchen back steps, where birds like mynas eat it.
------------------------------
Message: 2
Date: Wed, 3 Feb 2016 06:29:15 +1100
From: "Casimir Liber" <>
To: "'Birding-aus'" <>
Subject: Feeding wild birds
Message-ID: <>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Penny you need to be wary about saying "just plant natives" - many wattles
are far worse weeds in Australia than camellias and roses, for instance.
Most eucalypts, wattles, hakeas and grevilleas have some level of risk. The
best advice is a mixture of local natives and habitat species that can be
native or exotic BUT are researched for their weed potential. Anything
native that is grafted is generally good as its seed progeny are unlikely to
survive (a good thing!) Regards Cas Liber
-----Original Message-----
From: Birding-Aus On Behalf Of
Penny Brockman
Sent: Tuesday, 2 February 2016 6:12 PM
To: Birding-aus
Subject: Feeding wild birds
Dear birding-aussers
To feed or not to feed. This is an interminable question with too many fors
and againsts.
However having spent the first half of my life in England, and now with a
son who lives in Putney London and regularly feeds the local birds, trying
hard to keep the grey squirrels at bay, and a second son in Normanhurst
Sydney, and myself first in Sydney Newtown and now Gloucester NSW, I have
experienced/witnessed this in many good and bad ways.
As Wim Wader pointed out, it is essential to feed birds during very cold
weather in the northern winters when food is in short supply and much
habitat has been lost or is covered in snow. This is particularly so the
further north you go with very short dark days. My family lived in Surrey
and we always put out nuts, suet balls, or bits of meat scraps which were
eagerly taken by woodpeckers, robins, tits, blackbirds, thrushes, etc. but
only in winter.
When I first arrived in Sydney I was immediately struck by the much improved
annual conditions for birds, except for those badly affected by loss of
habitat - wetlands drained, forests logged flat, urban development removing
native vegetation, etc., and the love of people with gardens for expanses of
closely mown grass. so-called traditional English flowers (that have been
garnered from all around the world so hardly English), and plantings of
small trees and shrubs with lots of space around them so that the mower can
easily cut the grass. This leaves little in the way of all year round good
foraging for birds and exposure to predation, particularly for little birds.
Larger birds often benefit.
Whatever you feel about feeding native Australian birds, you must remember
the following facts which are well proven -
Our small woodland birds are in sharp decline. They need woodlands and lots
of undergrowth. They are killed easily in the open by cats, big predatory
birds such as ravens, butcherbirds, kookaburras and raptors, as well as
snakes, and so need dense shrubbery - particularly native shrubs as these
contain the insect life they eat. Exotic shrubs and trees often do not
attract native insects. I have an acacia in which thornbills, fairy-wrens,
honeyeaters, whistlers and fantails spend a lot of time searching and
finding caterpillars etc. Acacias are diffilcult in urban gardens as they
tend to die....I must have lost about 10 in the
14 years I've developed a garden specifically to provide safe habitat for
these species.
Bigger birds like magpies, corvids, raptors, butcherbirds, kookaburras
(although these last have been reported much less often recently),
cuckoo-shrikes, figbirds, large honeyeaters, cockatoos, parrots, cope better
in these open grassy gardens and are the ones that benefit by being fed.
This enables them to breed more often each year, produce more successful
adults, and sadly most like giving their nestlings the nestlings of smaller
birds to eat.
If you regularly feed, you will find you have lots of these larger birds
around your house, and very likely the cockatoos (particularly
Sulphur-crested) will get bored as they don't have to work hard to find
food, and will take a liking to any woodwork on the outside of your house.
They destroy wooden deck rails, pick out flashing on roofs, pulls flowers to
pieces, eat green fruit on your fruit trees, tomatoes and corn. Not just for
fun but also to keep their bills sharp which they usually do by foraging
under bark or in soil.
Then there is the fight for hollows in trees for nesting species. There is a
fair amount of evidence of bigger birds ousting smaller birds from hollows -
this has been observed with galahs being kicked out of nesting hollows by
the more feisty Major Mitchell cockatoos, and no doubt happens with your
local common hollow nesting species. Tree hollows are in short supply due to
the removal of old trees, and gliders and possums add to the problem by
moving in and eating the eggs and chicks.
The other factors are transmission of disease, as detailed concisely by
Simon Robinson. How many times a week do you clean your feeders? I
know quite a few people who seldom or never do. I have bird baths
which I scrub out when they get grotty but I don't use disinfectants, so I
am also guilty. Reason is I don't want to pour this disinfectant rich water
into the surrounding soil. I never feed. I have a small country town urban
garden that has frequent visits from over 50 birds, more in summer. Daily
visitors include 3 thornbills species, white-browed scrubwrens, superb
fairy-wrens, willie wagtails, grey fantails, lewins and yellow-faced
honeyeaters, red wattlebirds, figbirds, orioles, black-faced cuckoo-shrikes,
satin bowerbirds, white-headed pigeons, bar-shouldered doves, crimson and
eastern rosellas, king parrots, galahs, golden whistlers, red-browed finches
and exotics common mynas and house sparrows. Migratory species include
dollarbirds, rufous whistlers, leaden flycatchers, noisy friarbird and
sacred kingfisher.
Occasional visitors bring in another mixed bag so there is always something
to chek on. This season it included an emerald dove eating the sandpaper fig
ftuit, and the mulberry attracts brown cuckoo-doves and regent bowerbirds.
The two neighbouring gardens consist of a stretch of well mown lawn with a
few flower beds lining the edges, but one side has a flourishing bottle
brush that the larger honeyeaters love, and the other is unkempt as
currently tenanted, and contains a lilly pilly, olive (little birds nest in
these as seldom disturbed) and fig trees and sundry oranges and lemons.
These also provide foraging for the birds.
Since I moved to Gloucester town in 2002 I have noticed an increase in
little corellas, spotted turtle-doves, common mynas (we are currently
trapping these), crested pigeons, galahs, rainbow lorikeets, rock and
white-headed pigeons (note all larger birds), and a decline in double-barred
finches, variegated fairy-wrens, jacky winters, grey shrike-thrush and fairy
martins (all small birds).
My garden contains 90% native trees and plants and my bird list (seen or
heard from the back deck) is about 137, which includes single visits by
wompoo fruit-dove, rose and flame robins, a pair of regent honeyeaters,
black-faced cuckoo,and a common blackbird (first sighting in Gloucester).
So what am I really saying? Don't feed birds in Australia but make sure
they have a constant supply of drinking and bathing water, particularly in
our increasingly hot weather. And remember to wash these out from time to
time. Plant natives, sit back on your deck with your binoculars handy and
enjoy what this brings in.
Penny, Gloucester, NsW
Remember that bread is very bad for some species, and particularly so for
kangaroos (not birds !), and never leave your dog or cat food in the open,
on the kitchen back steps, where birds like mynas eat it.
<HR>
<BR> Birding-Aus mailing list
<BR>
<BR> To change settings or unsubscribe visit:
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</HR>
------------------------------
Message: 3
Date: Wed, 3 Feb 2016 07:34:14 +1100
From: Geoff Ryan <>
To:
Subject: Common Mynas
Message-ID:
<>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
I notice many birders like killing Common Mynas. This species was released a
long time ago and now inhabits more than 25% of Eastern Australia. It
believe the time for an effective campaign to eradicate Common Mynas
probably passed 100 years ago. However, I wrote this poem several years ago:
*The Common Myna*
According to the Common Myna
Life in Oz could not be finer
Ample ecologic niches
Full of gastronomic riches
To refugees from lands afar
The Aussie door is left ajar
>From the overcrowded Ganges delta
Come Common Mynas seeking shelter
Mind you stress can be intense
When translocating continents
To achieve an immigration mission
You can?t dismiss the competition
Kites, magpies and Currawong
All do their best to do them wrong
Goannas, snakes and many others
And don?t forget those Kookaburras
They steal their nests, eat their young
When settling in has just begun
And believe you me I do not jest
When I say specific prejudice
Mind you one can understand
These natives think it is their land
Millenia of evolution
Occupation and collusion
But it?s hard to comprehend the hate
>From the pale skinned primate
Also recent immigrants
>From over crowded continents
These humans flaunt their shameless skill
For destroying habitats at will
Converting ancient forest tall
Into ugly urban sprawl
They eliminate all competition
With poison, plough and land division
And into fragile habitats
Bring rabbits, foxes, toads and cats
And thus it seems to be to me
Such unashamed hypocrisy
Amidst destruction caused by them
The Common Myna to condemn.
GEOFF RYAN
2010
------------------------------
Message: 4
Date: Wed, 3 Feb 2016 08:31:28 +1100
From: "Greg and Val Clancy" <>
To: "Casimir Liber" <>, "'Birding-aus'"
<>
Subject: Feeding wild birds
Message-ID: <>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
reply-type=original
If you want to optimise the ecological value of your garden you should only
plant local native species. The Mt Morgan Wattle, a native of Queensland,
has become a weed in the Clarence Valley as has the dreaded Cadagi, a north
Queensland native. You don't need exotics or grafted natives as they don't
provide the natural habitat that local natives provide. I know people will
plant them but that is their choice. It isn't the best ecological choice.
Yes call me a purist but I contend that there is no better way to be when
considering ecological gardens. Non-local Grevilleas and bottlebrush often
attract the larger birds that displace the small passerines, just as feeding
often does.
Regards
Greg
Dr Greg. P. Clancy
Ecologist and Birding-wildlife Guide
| PO Box 63 Coutts Crossing NSW 2460
| 02 6649 3153 | 0429 601 960
http://www.gregclancyecologistguide.com
http://gregswildliferamblings.blogspot.com.au/
-----Original Message-----
From: Casimir Liber
Sent: Wednesday, February 3, 2016 6:29 AM
To: 'Birding-aus'
Subject: Feeding wild birds
Penny you need to be wary about saying "just plant natives" - many wattles
are far worse weeds in Australia than camellias and roses, for instance.
Most eucalypts, wattles, hakeas and grevilleas have some level of risk. The
best advice is a mixture of local natives and habitat species that can be
native or exotic BUT are researched for their weed potential. Anything
native that is grafted is generally good as its seed progeny are unlikely to
survive (a good thing!) Regards Cas Liber
------------------------------
Message: 5
Date: Wed, 3 Feb 2016 10:53:06 +1030
From: "Tony Russell" <>
To: "'Peter Shute'" <>, "'Penny Brockman'"
<>
Cc: "'Birding-aus'" <>
Subject: Feeding wild birds
Message-ID: <>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
We don't have a birdfeeder. We just leave out a few crumbs from bread etc
for birds in our backyard. They don't seem to get any fatter on them, but
that's probably because our two little dogs usually beat them to it.
Tony.
-----Original Message-----
From: Birding-Aus On Behalf Of
Peter Shute
Sent: Wednesday, February 3, 2016 4:49 AM
To: Penny Brockman
Cc: Birding-aus
Subject: Feeding wild birds
Regarding the spread of disease via bird baths, we have birds that come and
hang upside down drinking from a very slow drip from a garden tap (about a
drip per minute). Could disease be spread that way?
Regarding leaving pet food outside, I suspect that's a major food source for
mynas in some places, and foxes too.
Peter Shute
On 2 Feb 2016, at 8:25 PM, Penny Brockman <> wrote:
>
> The other factors are transmission of disease, as detailed concisely
> by Simon Robinson. How many times a week do you clean your feeders? I
> know quite a few people who seldom or never do. I have bird baths
> which I scrub out when they get grotty but I don't use disinfectants,
> so I am also guilty. Reason is I don't want to pour this disinfectant
> rich water into the surrounding soil.
> Remember that bread is very bad for some species, and particularly so
> for kangaroos (not birds !), and never leave your dog or cat food in
> the open, on the kitchen back steps, where birds like mynas eat it.
<HR>
<BR> Birding-Aus mailing list
<BR>
<BR> To change settings or unsubscribe visit:
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</HR>
------------------------------
Message: 6
Date: Wed, 3 Feb 2016 12:07:14 +1100
From: casliber0134 <>
Cc: Birding-aus <>
Subject: Feeding wild birds
Message-ID:
<CAPXbx47ve2St1J=rhF3_S54=iMCc2EqtvtgtAb=>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
Problem is Greg when advising folks who want a "pretty" garden, you want to
be able to give folks advice on safer nonlocal plants. Many local natives
are hard to grow or even harder to find...so you risk your garden looking
like the local amenities strip or park which has been planted by the same
local native community nursery you've sourced your plants from....
But this is moving off the topic of birding I guess....
Cas
On Wed, Feb 3, 2016 at 8:31 AM, Greg and Val Clancy <>
wrote:
> If you want to optimise the ecological value of your garden you should
only
> plant local native species. The Mt Morgan Wattle, a native of
Queensland,
> has become a weed in the Clarence Valley as has the dreaded Cadagi, a
> north Queensland native. You don't need exotics or grafted natives as
> they don't provide the natural habitat that local natives provide. I
> know people will plant them but that is their choice. It isn't the best
ecological choice.
> Yes call me a purist but I contend that there is no better way to be
> when considering ecological gardens. Non-local Grevilleas and
> bottlebrush often attract the larger birds that displace the small
> passerines, just as feeding often does.
>
> Regards
>
> Greg
> Dr Greg. P. Clancy
> Ecologist and Birding-wildlife Guide
> | PO Box 63 Coutts Crossing NSW 2460
> | 02 6649 3153 | 0429 601 960
> http://www.gregclancyecologistguide.com
> http://gregswildliferamblings.blogspot.com.au/
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message----- From: Casimir Liber
> Sent: Wednesday, February 3, 2016 6:29 AM
> To: 'Birding-aus'
> Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Feeding wild birds
>
> Penny you need to be wary about saying "just plant natives" - many
> wattles are far worse weeds in Australia than camellias and roses, for
instance.
> Most eucalypts, wattles, hakeas and grevilleas have some level of
> risk. The best advice is a mixture of local natives and habitat
> species that can be native or exotic BUT are researched for their weed
> potential. Anything native that is grafted is generally good as its
> seed progeny are unlikely to survive (a good thing!) Regards Cas Liber
>
>
>
> <HR>
> <BR> Birding-Aus mailing list
> <BR>
> <BR> To change settings or unsubscribe visit:
> <BR>
> http://birding-aus.org/mailman/listinfo/birding-aus_birding-aus.org
> </HR>
------------------------------
Message: 7
Date: Wed, 3 Feb 2016 12:52:28 +1000
From: "Barney Enders" <>
To: <>
Subject: Differrent breeds co-operating
Message-ID: <>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Now it has been established that the Coots and Moorhens were adults and that
I wasn't dreaming, I have had a few inquiries as to where it was happening.
It was 16 km out of Moama N S W over the border from Echuca on Deep Creek
and if anyone is interested in having a look email me and I will give you
exact directions.
It is a dead-end creek that has been cleared of trees and logs to enable the
mooring of dozens of house boats but around the corner it changes into a
typical lagoon with dead trees and logs in shallow water with lots of weed,
they are in the deeper water where a different weed grows.
I spent the week travelling around the area including Perracoota Forest and
the back roads to Bunallo etc. and sat on a few farm dams in the evening
on the hot days and a few things stood out including the families of Choughs
have increased in size from 4s and 5s during the drought to 18 and 20 with a
couple of families up to 25 and there were dozens of groups
Many Eastern Rosellas who seem to stay in their family groups had lots of 5
and 6 young with them when they came down to drink but only saw pairs of
adult Yellow Rosellas and no young at all ,perhaps they had moved away from
where they breed.
Quite a few Eastern X Yellow Rosella young in family groups of 6 to 8 coming
into drink opposite the houseboat.
Down the back roads only saw 2 pair of Blue-bonnets and the worrying thing I
saw five families of Grey-crowned Babblers with the biggest family only 4
and the rest 3 which is a concern.
Almost ran over a Rainbow Bee-eater coming out of a burrow in the ground, it
wasn't in a bank but on a flat area of sand, very easy for Snake or Goanna
to get a feed.
Where I pulled up in the car was I only 4 mts from the entrance hole and as
I sat there they completely ignored me and kept on feeding the young, I was
close enough to see what they were feeding the young on and it included May
Flies, Dragon Flies ,Bot Flies, different Wasps, three different bees
including one with bright black and yellow stripers.
variety of flying Beetles and some others too small to see.
The interesting thing was the male was a bludger letting the mother do twice
as many trips to the burrow while he sat on a branch on the ground a mt from
the entrance hole.
I watched for quite some time photographing them and then continued on my
way and on the return trip they were nowhere to be seen having done dozens
of trips earlier in the day trying to fill the seemly insatiable appetite of
the young.
Another interesting observation while sitting there was the amount of pairs
of Brown Treecreepers with their young foraging within 50 mt. I counted 18
including young at one stage must have had a good breeding season.
I didn't see any Superb Parrots in the area where I photographed a pair with
4 young a few years ago that were progressively all taken by a Peregrine
Falcon nesting in the area, local farmers say they have never seen them in
the area since. ( Further West than normally found nowadays)
Off Topic.
The Cockatoos that were reported to have flown into the windscreen of the
truck that crashed and caught on fire closing the M1 at Nerang Qld
yesterday were 2 Little Corellas that are part of a large flock that have
frequented that bridge for a few years and it is where I reported on here
last year that a pair tried to nest in the traffic light at the end of the
bridge.
There have been several near-misses as they fly over and under the bridge
several times a day.
Barney
Subject: Differrent breeds co-operating
I would just like to point out that I wasn't the only one that saw the Coots
feeding the Moorhens, it went for the full week we were there and was
happening less than ten mts from where we were sitting on the back deck
photographing a Sea-Eagle trying to teach its young one to catch Carp.
I think I have been around long enough to tell the difference between the
breeds having owned part of the Mansfield Swamp at Corop Vic. where
thousands of both breeds nested and only a few clicks down the road from the
Racecourse Lake and Lake Cooper also at Corop where 10 sometimes
20 thousand and over congregate when the lakes have shallow water in them.
Philip and Brian I will send you some photos for you to have a look at and
anyone else that is interested.
barney.
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------------------------------
Message: 8
Date: Wed, 3 Feb 2016 13:35:32 +1100
From: Carl Clifford <>
To: Casimir Liber <>
Cc: Birding-aus <>
Subject: Feeding wild birds
Message-ID: <>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Cootamundra Wattle is a declared weed in many places, in Australia and other
countries.
Carl Clifford
> On 3 Feb 2016, at 6:29 AM, Casimir Liber <> wrote:
>
> Penny you need to be wary about saying "just plant natives" - many
> wattles are far worse weeds in Australia than camellias and roses, for
instance.
> Most eucalypts, wattles, hakeas and grevilleas have some level of
> risk. The best advice is a mixture of local natives and habitat
> species that can be native or exotic BUT are researched for their weed
> potential. Anything native that is grafted is generally good as its
> seed progeny are unlikely to survive (a good thing!) Regards Cas Liber
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Birding-Aus On
> Behalf Of Penny Brockman
> Sent: Tuesday, 2 February 2016 6:12 PM
> To: Birding-aus
> Subject: [Birding-Aus] Feeding wild birds
>
> Dear birding-aussers
>
> To feed or not to feed. This is an interminable question with too many
> fors and againsts.
>
> However having spent the first half of my life in England, and now
> with a son who lives in Putney London and regularly feeds the local
> birds, trying hard to keep the grey squirrels at bay, and a second son
> in Normanhurst Sydney, and myself first in Sydney Newtown and now
> Gloucester NSW, I have experienced/witnessed this in many good and bad
ways.
>
> As Wim Wader pointed out, it is essential to feed birds during very
> cold weather in the northern winters when food is in short supply and
> much habitat has been lost or is covered in snow. This is particularly
> so the further north you go with very short dark days. My family lived
> in Surrey and we always put out nuts, suet balls, or bits of meat
> scraps which were eagerly taken by woodpeckers, robins, tits,
> blackbirds, thrushes, etc. but only in winter.
>
> When I first arrived in Sydney I was immediately struck by the much
> improved annual conditions for birds, except for those badly affected
> by loss of habitat - wetlands drained, forests logged flat, urban
> development removing native vegetation, etc., and the love of people
> with gardens for expanses of closely mown grass. so-called traditional
> English flowers (that have been garnered from all around the world so
> hardly English), and plantings of small trees and shrubs with lots of
> space around them so that the mower can easily cut the grass. This
> leaves little in the way of all year round good foraging for birds and
exposure to predation, particularly for little birds.
> Larger birds often benefit.
>
> Whatever you feel about feeding native Australian birds, you must
> remember the following facts which are well proven -
>
> Our small woodland birds are in sharp decline. They need woodlands and
> lots of undergrowth. They are killed easily in the open by cats, big
> predatory birds such as ravens, butcherbirds, kookaburras and raptors,
> as well as snakes, and so need dense shrubbery - particularly native
> shrubs as these contain the insect life they eat. Exotic shrubs and
> trees often do not attract native insects. I have an acacia in which
> thornbills, fairy-wrens, honeyeaters, whistlers and fantails spend a
> lot of time searching and finding caterpillars etc. Acacias are
> diffilcult in urban gardens as they tend to die....I must have lost
> about 10 in the
> 14 years I've developed a garden specifically to provide safe habitat
> for these species.
>
> Bigger birds like magpies, corvids, raptors, butcherbirds, kookaburras
> (although these last have been reported much less often recently),
> cuckoo-shrikes, figbirds, large honeyeaters, cockatoos, parrots, cope
> better in these open grassy gardens and are the ones that benefit by being
fed.
> This enables them to breed more often each year, produce more
> successful adults, and sadly most like giving their nestlings the
> nestlings of smaller birds to eat.
>
> If you regularly feed, you will find you have lots of these larger
> birds around your house, and very likely the cockatoos (particularly
> Sulphur-crested) will get bored as they don't have to work hard to
> find food, and will take a liking to any woodwork on the outside of your
house.
> They destroy wooden deck rails, pick out flashing on roofs, pulls
> flowers to pieces, eat green fruit on your fruit trees, tomatoes and
> corn. Not just for fun but also to keep their bills sharp which they
> usually do by foraging under bark or in soil.
>
> Then there is the fight for hollows in trees for nesting species.
> There is a fair amount of evidence of bigger birds ousting smaller
> birds from hollows - this has been observed with galahs being kicked
> out of nesting hollows by the more feisty Major Mitchell cockatoos,
> and no doubt happens with your local common hollow nesting species.
> Tree hollows are in short supply due to the removal of old trees, and
> gliders and possums add to the problem by moving in and eating the eggs
and chicks.
>
> The other factors are transmission of disease, as detailed concisely
> by Simon Robinson. How many times a week do you clean your feeders? I
> know quite a few people who seldom or never do. I have bird baths
> which I scrub out when they get grotty but I don't use disinfectants,
> so I am also guilty. Reason is I don't want to pour this disinfectant
> rich water into the surrounding soil. I never feed. I have a small
> country town urban garden that has frequent visits from over 50 birds,
> more in summer. Daily visitors include 3 thornbills species,
> white-browed scrubwrens, superb fairy-wrens, willie wagtails, grey
> fantails, lewins and yellow-faced honeyeaters, red wattlebirds,
> figbirds, orioles, black-faced cuckoo-shrikes, satin bowerbirds,
> white-headed pigeons, bar-shouldered doves, crimson and eastern
> rosellas, king parrots, galahs, golden whistlers, red-browed finches
> and exotics common mynas and house sparrows. Migratory species include
> dollarbirds, rufous whistlers, leaden flycatchers, noisy friarbird and
sacred kingfisher.
> Occasional visitors bring in another mixed bag so there is always
> something to chek on. This season it included an emerald dove eating
> the sandpaper fig ftuit, and the mulberry attracts brown cuckoo-doves and
regent bowerbirds.
>
> The two neighbouring gardens consist of a stretch of well mown lawn
> with a few flower beds lining the edges, but one side has a
> flourishing bottle brush that the larger honeyeaters love, and the
> other is unkempt as currently tenanted, and contains a lilly pilly,
> olive (little birds nest in these as seldom disturbed) and fig trees and
sundry oranges and lemons.
> These also provide foraging for the birds.
>
> Since I moved to Gloucester town in 2002 I have noticed an increase in
> little corellas, spotted turtle-doves, common mynas (we are currently
> trapping these), crested pigeons, galahs, rainbow lorikeets, rock and
> white-headed pigeons (note all larger birds), and a decline in
> double-barred finches, variegated fairy-wrens, jacky winters, grey
> shrike-thrush and fairy martins (all small birds).
>
> My garden contains 90% native trees and plants and my bird list (seen
> or heard from the back deck) is about 137, which includes single
> visits by wompoo fruit-dove, rose and flame robins, a pair of regent
> honeyeaters, black-faced cuckoo,and a common blackbird (first sighting in
Gloucester).
>
> So what am I really saying? Don't feed birds in Australia but make
> sure they have a constant supply of drinking and bathing water,
> particularly in our increasingly hot weather. And remember to wash
> these out from time to time. Plant natives, sit back on your deck
> with your binoculars handy and enjoy what this brings in.
>
> Penny, Gloucester, NsW
>
> Remember that bread is very bad for some species, and particularly so
> for kangaroos (not birds !), and never leave your dog or cat food in
> the open, on the kitchen back steps, where birds like mynas eat it.
>
>
>
>
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End of Birding-Aus Digest, Vol 28, Issue 3
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