Hi everyone,
I'm Betty and live in the Wimmera district of Victoria, easy driving distance to the Little Desert or the Grampians Mt Range(Gariwerd National Park). We have a few acres opposite a 1750 acre forestry reserve(open eucalypt forest) and are surrounded by farms on the other sides, so I have always been interested in the birds here. Unfortunately the Wimmera/Mallee pipeline is about the take the place of the open channel system and dams here, so I will miss out on seeing all the water birds in my own backyard. I am sure I will enjoy chatting with everyone on this forum. Merry Xmas to you and yours and I hope you are having a great day. Perfect Spring-like weather here.
Betty`
Hi,
I am a beginer. I am living in Monterey,Sydney.
I feel so sad that most of birds I spotted in my backyard are 'pests'. I still provide seeds and water for them and I love them.
Hi MagpieLark.
What birds are you thinking are pests?
Hi Betty,
I start watching birds in my back yard from Oct this year.
I spotted a following birds in my backyard and checked identities of those birds:
Pied Currawong: pest? I watched young chicks grew up.
Australian Raven: Pest?
Spotted Turtle Dove: good?
House Sparrows: pest?
European Starling: pest? I thought they were common starling, but Marj said they are European Starling.
Rainbow Lorikeets: good?
Red Wattlebird: I am not really sure the identity of the bird, as I only saw his yellow underpart.
India Myna: pest
Magpie-lark: good?
Hi Denis, Thank you for your advice.
Back to Oct, I spot a pair of pied currawongs made a nest on the tree in my backyard. They had 3 babies (one died). I was very interested to watch the young chicks grow. I start to feed currawong with my cat food.
Now I provide birds with seeds (I bought from supermarket).
Big birds, like Magpie, Raven, Currawong love my cat biscuits.
So do the India mynahs.
India Mynah is classified as pest, but I still get very angry when my neighbor shoots them.
I am planning to buy a good camera, so I can take pictures of birds in my yard.
Hi Denis,
Like you, I don't feed the birds either. Magpies were stealing the cat food, so I shifted it somewhere they couldn't get it. I planted a native garden to encourage Honeyeaters . Went off Kookaburras when I learnt they kill baby birds, then figured, as you said, that they are only doing what is natural. The only bird I consider a pest perhaps are Corellas, because of the size of the flocks here, the noise they make and how destructive they can be.
Betty