Hi there, my husband and I have recently moved into a new house. The lady behind our house feeds a large flock of rainbow lorikeets (about 50) everyday and it looks like she is feeding them bread. The lorikeets have taken over the area and sit around the house waiting for the food to be given to them. They then all fight over the food and the noise is awful. Although most of us know that feeding wild birds is bad for them unfortunately there are people who still do it and who think they are helping the birds. A petition has been put together to address the irresponcible feeding of wild birds in Queensland. Despite the knowledge that wild bird feeding is detrimental to their health, there is nothing to stop people from doing it in Queensland. It makes me sad to see these birds not able to live the life that nature intended but instead spend their day waiting for a handout of food and then fighting over it. If you are a Queensland resident, please sign this petition to protect our native birds. Also, please let me know if you have any ideas on where else I could share this petition. Thank you.
https://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/work-of-assembly/petitions/petition-details?id=3233
Hi Georgia. I'm not a Queenslander so I haven't signed your petition. However, I commend you for being part of efforts to discourage artificial feeding of native birds.
I note that the petition doesn't include the horrendous danger of spreading horrific beak & feather disease by artificially feeding birds.
In your drive against artificially feeding birds has any thought been given to encouraging people to ensure that in their gradens they plant, wherever possible, species local to the area? Natural ecologies can be at least partially restored by doing this & thereby advantage our native birds.
Thanks Woko, I will pass this on to the organiser of the petition. I spoke to the lady feeding the lorikeets and I think she has stopped feeding them. There seems to be some debate on whether wild birds become dependant on the food humans feed them. These birds are 100% dependant on the food this lady feeds them. They still sit in the trees around her house for hours waiting to be fed even though she has stopped feeding them. Do you think they will eventually move on? I’m surprised that they are willing to sit around so long waiting for the food rather than finding their own. I’m hoping that over time they will learn to spend their day foraging for their own food rather than waiting for a handout most of the day. Just shows how detrimental long term, regular feeding of wild birds can be.
That would be encouraging indeed if the lady has stopped feeding the lorikeets. Well done on discussing the matter with her & congratulations to your neighbour.
It will be interesting to see how long the lorikeets hang about waiting for a handout, particularly because lorikeets normally travel widely seeking nectar from flowering plants. If there are lots of Eucalypts & other natural nectar producing plants in your neighborhood I imagine that the lorikeets will quickly move on. However, if your neighborhood is planted out with exotics then I wonder if a process of gradually removing the artificial food might prevent speedy starvation. I'm not sure about this & I might use my social isolation to research the issue. Whichever approach is used It would be useful if you were to document your observations so that others (humans & birds) in a similar to situation might benefit.
Be honest, are you complaining about this lady feeding the birds because you are concerned about the birds, or are you mainly concerned about the noise?
I have been feeding the local birds for years, wild bird seed for the parrots and pet mince for the carnivores, and I used to chop up a red apple or two for the lorikeets when they still came around (haven't seen em for years, sadly), and will continue to do so as long as I continue to draw breath. Naturally I also leave plenty of fresh water out daily for the birds as well as the marupials that still show up from time to time.
I reckon this is the least Australians can do to support their struggling wildlife that have suffered so much from human destruction of their fragile habitat and the resulting climate change. I have also tried planting native fruit and seed bearing trees to encourage the dwindling wildlife round my way, but the horrible heat and drought of last summer has all but destroyed the lot.
If that lady wants to feed the lorikeets, I reckon she has a right to, and if you really wanted to help the birds you would just recommend she use fruit and seed instead of the bread.
Meanwhile, people let their pet cats out to run around willy nilly and decimate our native birds on a daily basis, and no one bats a bloody eyelid. We don't deserve these wonderful animals in this country I reckon.
Given the rapid & ongoing destruction of Australia's natural environment we may well have arrived at the point where your approach has merit, major myna. Where species are critically endangered perhaps artificial feeding has merit, especially if natural habit restoration simultaneously occurs so that, eventually, the artificial feeding can be withdrawn as the natural habitat takes over.
I'm interested in the thoughts of other Birds in Backyarders on this issue.