Lately I've had an abundance of Rainbow Lorikeets in my China Doll tree, first time in 20 years my tree has actually flowered and seeded. At the moment the tree is full of seed pods which is attracting the Lorikeets and Rosellas. Even had a Crimson Rosella drink from my birdbath, first time ever, I was so excited. At times there are so many Lorikeets in my tree the noise they make is so loud, I worry what the neighbours must think. I don't really talk to my neighbour at all, they are a noisy bunch and their dog is always in my yard, but to keep the peace I don't complain.
This morning again there were about 30 Lorikeets, if not more in my tree and they were loud. I actually love having them in my tree, the noise doesn't bother me but I heard the neighbour talking about the noise and saying "look at all those coloured birds in the tree". Then I heard the male of the household scare the birds off. They've flown away for now, but I know they'll be back.
I'm hoping there is nothing they can do about the Lorikeets. I don't feed them, they're simply just attracted to the seed pods. The noise they make I cannot control but why should I anyway. I get the feeling my neighbour is not too impressed but my other neighbour across the street actually enjoys the bird life around here.
Please tell me they can't complain to the council about the birds? I worry for the birds, I'd hate to see them go. Besides when the seed pods drop, the lorikeets will move on, it's not like it's a permanent thing. I'm even considering planting another China Doll tree for the Lorikeets and Rosellas. I know my neighbours are going to love me for it...lol
Hi Kimbolina,
Intuitively, I'm thinking that there's nothing that the council / neighbours could do.
However, if you're worried about the neighbours trying to scare the birds away, maybe you could casually in conversation say "Geez those lorikeets are a noisy bunch, aren't they?! Oh well, at least they'll go when the tree stops flowering". Of course, this is assuming that you do occasionally chat with your neighbours (might seem a bit odd if the first contact they have with you is your turning up on their doorstep one day saying "Geez, those lorikeets...").
How exciting to have a Crimson Rosella drink in your yard for the first time.
Andy.
Hi Kimbolina,
I'd suggest that they can complain (people can and do complain about anything), but who they complain to and what those authorities can do about it are another thing entirely.
I can imagine that authorities in Brisbane would turn around and laugh (figuratively at least, if not literally) if someone complained about the noise from rainbow lorikeets. They are so prevalent, and there is very little the council could do to move them on, even if they wanted to.
As Andy says though, the best thing would be to cultivate a good relationship with your neighbours, let them know it's only likely to be a few weeks, while the tree is in flower. I have a similar thing while my Brisbane Box is in flower here - it's full of lorikeets for a week or three, then they move on.
Cheers
Tim
Brisbane
Thanks for the reply Andy and Timmo. At present they really haven't complained, I only over heard them through the fence. The neighbour next door I have never spoken to only waved to but if he ever does say something, I think I'll take both your advice and just play along. The birds really are doing no harm, they're just doing what they do naturally and that includes screaming. When you watch the birds closely you can really see how interactive they are with each other. I noticed they're in pairs and they even groom each other and of course they argue with one another too.
My neighbour isn't the friendliest of people, even the other neighbours in the street complain about them, but I figure, well if I have to put up with their screaming kids and their dog in my yard, then they can put up with a little wildlife, it's not like I put the birds there on purpose. I was just a little worried that if someone complained they may try relocate the birds like they do with magpies, they may have a hell of a job doing so with so many, or maybe ask me to cut my tree down. I didn't want either to happen.
Thanks again :)
Timmo..... you just reminded me of a previous post from a W.A. member. they had a cull there in King's Park I think because of an over population of RLs and the noise etc . Hard ot believe I know, but I will search and find it .
Sunshine Coast Queensland
Here are the references...as hard as it may be to believe.... they are a few years old in one case.
http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/western-australia/rainbow-lorikeets-declared-pests/story-e6frg13u-1111112534277
the one I was thinking of was actually referring to Corellas
http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/cocky-cull-for-busselton-beachfront-20090703-d7bd.html
I don't think there is much to worry about Kimbo with one tree in your back garden! I wouldn't even talk to my neighbours about it if it was me.
When their dog comes to call...scare it off and if that didn't work I'd call the pound. People like that are never going to see the beauty that surrounds them
Sunshine Coast Queensland
Kimbolina, it wouldn't be right if they tried to make you cut the tree down. It is YOUR tree.
The neighbours cant stop something natural from happening - parrots get attracted to flowering trees and because you don't feed them either then you can say that it is totally natural behaviour and that there is nothing that you will do differently to stop them.
Cheers, Owen.
Thanks Birdie and Owen for your reply. Birdie those articles actually make me feel ill. I sometimes wonder if we as humans forget how much of the birds natural habitat we have taken, any wonder these birds are in backyards eating crops, you can hardly blame them.
As far as my neighbour goes, if he can't handle the noise of the birds then I think it's his problem, not mine. The birds aren't there all day long and like I said before once the seed pods have dropped I know the birds will move on. This is the first time in 20 years this has happened with this tree, usually it's my palm trees that attract the lorikeets for a week or two, then they're gone again. I thoroughly enjoy having them in MY yard, noise and all. Thanks again for the replies :)
The amount of red tape and the time it takes to get get permission for a cull on native birds alone means there safe culling is only used as a last resort in plague situations.
I have just moved from Frankston in Victoria where my neighbor would regularly have over 200 rainbows in his yard.
Since being in stawell i have only seen about 20 it's so quiet it's eerie!
The key thing with this is the fact that Rainbow Lorikeets are native species and therefore, under law I'm not really sure there is much they could do to get rid of them (and I can't think of any techniques they could use either), and that is the difference bewteen Birdie's articles from WA and Sydney. Kookaburras, corellas, lorikeets etc. are not native to the the west of Australia and were introduced and so are technically "exotic species" over in Western Australia.
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Besides if your neighbours do decide to complain I doubt the council would be willing to go through with the paper work involved and other uneccesary hassles (as mentioned by sparrow) because a resident complained about the "birds making noise". All the best and make sure you get some great photos while they're there! I remember they only came one year to our place for our flowering gum and they didn't come again, so make the most of it!
Thanks Amateur and Sparrow. I hope you're right. The Lorikeets returned to the tree again this morning and once again screaming their heads off. The neighbour didn't say anything this time, just slammed his door lol.
Kimbolina if its any comfort to you nothing is going to happen to you, the Lorries or your tree.
I have seen several cases up here where the fruit bats have moved into towns and caused absolute chaos and the councils have not been able to move on them because they are native and protected......one such case was recently in Moranbah, they basically told the residents that when the trees stopped flowering the bats would move on and that was that, they were not allowed to touch the trees or the bats.
Hope that helps.
Thanks for that Tassie, that's comforting to know. They still visit the tree every day but not as many and not as loud. The tree is slowly losing more and more seed pods and I'm guessing it won't be long and they'll find somewhere else to feed. Will kind of miss not hearing their chatter but if the tree flowers again next year, I'm sure they'll be back.
Much appreciated Tassie.