Very interesting. Goes against just about evrything I have learnt about birds in the last few years. Must have been a very short study as she doesn't look very old at all.
I only feed the Crimson Rosella's and King Parrots plus the Satin Bowerbirds but not on a regular basis. As I do shift work there are fortnightly roster patterns where the birds either don't get fed at all or at adhoc times.
They are intelligent the parrots, if my front door is shut they go within minutes, if the front door is open and just the fly screen door the parrots whistle and chatter to gain my attention, often for 20 to 30 minutes they will try and attract my attention.
So even on days when I am at home I often have the front door shut and thus not feed them, the thing is, if they don't get a hand out here they get it from someone else!
One day I watched them through binoculars through the curtain, after sitting on the rail and seeing the door shut they immeadiately flew off to my eldery neighbour about 100m away and done the same thing. He had nothing out, so they lingered and whistled etc for a few minutes before moving on to the next human "charity".
So it's a dollar each way, I think by not doing it on a regular basis is the best method, as they hang around and then there's too much bird shite to clean up on the verandah!
As many Birds in Backyarders would know I'm rather passionate about this issue. When I think about it I'd have to say my passion is related to the fact that so much of our natural habitat has been destroyed by human activity that I can't see the sense in then compensating for this destruction by giving birds handouts. Why not begin restoring that which was destroyed to provide our native birds with their natural food? This would be a much more cautious, conservative approach than the risky, radical approach of feeding birds with what might be inappropriate tucker &, especially with parrots, galahs & cockatoos, risking the spread of beak & feather disease.
So many people complain about being "time poor" (a ridiculous term since we all get 24 hours per day) yet many of us choose to spend our precious time feeding birds rather than restoring habitats. I used to find this a curious thing to do until I became aware that artificially feeding birds is not about the birds but rather about providing humans with stimulation, an interest, an ooh ahh experience. There's even a significant element, I suggest, of a need for control in humans feeding birds. If feeding birds was about the birds then it seems to me that people would be restoring habitats in which case a good pair of binoculars &/or a camera should satisfy both birds & humans.
I guess that if people feel compelled to artificially feed birds then there's an argument that they do it with the minimum of harm to the birds - which seems to be the purpose of the research referred to. But at the same time why not educate people about the value in restoring natural habitat? Besides, we know the value to native birds of their having natural habitat from which to feed. Aeons of evolution have demonstrated this. But do we know the long term effects of artificially feeding our birds? Has any research been done on this?
The idea of artificially feeding birds because if I don't someone else will is a bit like saying we need to dig up coal & contribute to climate wrecking because if we don't someone else will, not a terribly tenable position I would have thought. It would be more helpful, I suggest, to restore habitat & inform the bird-loving neighbours what you're doing & why you're doing it so that they have an opportunity to go forth & do likewise.
Good points there Woko, when I took over this property three or so years back I ripped out 90% of the "foreign" plants in the garden and replaced them with Australian natives, for two reasons:
1) Australian natives require a lot less watering in periods of little or no rain, one good soaking at night every five weeks keeps them going, where foreign plants get stressed from heat and require at least a weekly watering or more depending on conditions. I have not lost any Australian native plants yet due to inadequate watering. I might add I use tank water for the garden too and not town water.
2) Australian native plants are very hardy, drought resistant to a certain degree and attract native birds. My daily regulars here include: Wattlebirds, Satin Bowerbirds, Blue Wrens, Kookaburra's, Magpie's, Bulbuls, Silvereye, various Honeyeaters, European Blackbird, Butcherbirds, King Parrots, Crimson Rosella's, Rainbow Lorikeets, Gang Gang Cockatoo, Pied Currawong, Grey Currawong, Crested Pigeon and Bronzewing Pigeon. When I first came here there were only the larger common birds, also by not having a dog or cat is a bonus too.
Ditch the introduced foreign plants and go "native" to attract the birds.
Very interesting. Goes against just about evrything I have learnt about birds in the last few years. Must have been a very short study as she doesn't look very old at all.
Yes, it's interesting.
elizabeth
I only feed the Crimson Rosella's and King Parrots plus the Satin Bowerbirds but not on a regular basis. As I do shift work there are fortnightly roster patterns where the birds either don't get fed at all or at adhoc times.
They are intelligent the parrots, if my front door is shut they go within minutes, if the front door is open and just the fly screen door the parrots whistle and chatter to gain my attention, often for 20 to 30 minutes they will try and attract my attention.
So even on days when I am at home I often have the front door shut and thus not feed them, the thing is, if they don't get a hand out here they get it from someone else!
One day I watched them through binoculars through the curtain, after sitting on the rail and seeing the door shut they immeadiately flew off to my eldery neighbour about 100m away and done the same thing. He had nothing out, so they lingered and whistled etc for a few minutes before moving on to the next human "charity".
So it's a dollar each way, I think by not doing it on a regular basis is the best method, as they hang around and then there's too much bird shite to clean up on the verandah!
As many Birds in Backyarders would know I'm rather passionate about this issue. When I think about it I'd have to say my passion is related to the fact that so much of our natural habitat has been destroyed by human activity that I can't see the sense in then compensating for this destruction by giving birds handouts. Why not begin restoring that which was destroyed to provide our native birds with their natural food? This would be a much more cautious, conservative approach than the risky, radical approach of feeding birds with what might be inappropriate tucker &, especially with parrots, galahs & cockatoos, risking the spread of beak & feather disease.
So many people complain about being "time poor" (a ridiculous term since we all get 24 hours per day) yet many of us choose to spend our precious time feeding birds rather than restoring habitats. I used to find this a curious thing to do until I became aware that artificially feeding birds is not about the birds but rather about providing humans with stimulation, an interest, an ooh ahh experience. There's even a significant element, I suggest, of a need for control in humans feeding birds. If feeding birds was about the birds then it seems to me that people would be restoring habitats in which case a good pair of binoculars &/or a camera should satisfy both birds & humans.
I guess that if people feel compelled to artificially feed birds then there's an argument that they do it with the minimum of harm to the birds - which seems to be the purpose of the research referred to. But at the same time why not educate people about the value in restoring natural habitat? Besides, we know the value to native birds of their having natural habitat from which to feed. Aeons of evolution have demonstrated this. But do we know the long term effects of artificially feeding our birds? Has any research been done on this?
The idea of artificially feeding birds because if I don't someone else will is a bit like saying we need to dig up coal & contribute to climate wrecking because if we don't someone else will, not a terribly tenable position I would have thought. It would be more helpful, I suggest, to restore habitat & inform the bird-loving neighbours what you're doing & why you're doing it so that they have an opportunity to go forth & do likewise.
Good points there Woko, when I took over this property three or so years back I ripped out 90% of the "foreign" plants in the garden and replaced them with Australian natives, for two reasons:
1) Australian natives require a lot less watering in periods of little or no rain, one good soaking at night every five weeks keeps them going, where foreign plants get stressed from heat and require at least a weekly watering or more depending on conditions. I have not lost any Australian native plants yet due to inadequate watering. I might add I use tank water for the garden too and not town water.
2) Australian native plants are very hardy, drought resistant to a certain degree and attract native birds. My daily regulars here include: Wattlebirds, Satin Bowerbirds, Blue Wrens, Kookaburra's, Magpie's, Bulbuls, Silvereye, various Honeyeaters, European Blackbird, Butcherbirds, King Parrots, Crimson Rosella's, Rainbow Lorikeets, Gang Gang Cockatoo, Pied Currawong, Grey Currawong, Crested Pigeon and Bronzewing Pigeon. When I first came here there were only the larger common birds, also by not having a dog or cat is a bonus too.
Ditch the introduced foreign plants and go "native" to attract the birds.
Particulary indigenous natives so that as much as possible of original habitats can be restored.