Bird Feeding - Good or Bad #2

As with my lost post, my next few posts will be the results that I’ve submitted.
I can’t tell you all how much I support this survey. If you google the feeding issue, all you get is a lot of why not to. The why is mostly myth that the CSIRO study dismissed. I could find no factual cause & effect study. Well here is one. If you feed birds or have a bird bath then I encourage to register.
https://csdb.org.au/feedingbirds/home.aspx

These are the photos I submitted to the survey from the 20 min window they requested, as well as what happened before & after.

6/8/16

Tapas Bar
Today’s Menu; Finely sliced pear & grapes with apple & rockmelon wedges, sprinkled with Panko Breadcrumbs. I added some flowers from the backyard for some colour & also to see if any birds were interested.

During the 20 minutes; This was to be a very quiet day. The Lorries turned up and cleaned me out.

Today’s attendees were; Red the Red Wattlebird, Cedrick & Daphne the Lorikeets, Brad the Satin Bowerbird & Button the Kookaburra.

Red the Red Wattlebird crowned with yellow wattle.

If God was born in Saratoga......

The Bible would reference plagues of Lorikeets.

It took 20 mins to eat me out of house & home.

This is unusual in as much as these 2 don't get on.

Cedrick doesn't like anyone, but in particular Brad.

They both love the grape.

But right now Red is giving everyone such a hard time.

Tolerance is being demonstrated.

A 'One' united kind of thing.
"We hate the Red club"

That's Mal in the background.

Always the opportunist.

The Tranquillity Pool

Both Red & Cedrick had a drink.

Red daintily drinking.

Dainty doesn't fit the mould of Red lately.

Where as we have Cedrick.

He's a face first sort of guy.

And that fits his mould perfectly

8/8/16

Today’s Menu; Red grapes, rice, banana & paw paw. As a garnish, some fresh wattle.

During the 20 minutes;

Today’s attendees were; Red the Red Wattlebird, Shiloh the Satin Bowerbird, Mal the Noisy Miner, Button the Kookaburra & the Lorikeet’s Cedrick & Daphne.

Decisions. Decisions.

Not really. He's not geared up to eat fruit.

So his options are limited.

Rice is good. That's Wattlebird size.

And he'll lick the shit out of the mandarin slice.

Unlike Red, Shiloh has no such limitations.

All is fair game, and he likes it all.

I don't know whether to label Mal an "Opportunist" or "Optimist"

But he is certainly sticking his head into the Lions Den.

This will interest the Survey crew.

Button, last years bub has a sweet tooth.

As a matter of fact, a few of my Kooka family like fruit & veg

The Tranquillity Pool

Pedro the Pee Wee, Shiloh and Red, popped in for a cool drink.

Pedro the Pee Wee having a cool sip.

Well actually no bird can sip (except pigeons & doves)

As matter of fact, very few animals can. We are one of the lucky few.

With the Tapas Bar occupied,

Shiloh grabs a drink while he waits

Red was the last to visit.

I find it interesting that a few birds drink like this.

For all the world it looks like their sucking.

I would have thought a "scoop and tilt' like the Kookas do, a more effective method.

After hours was great. I had a couple of new visitors.

A young Lorikeet called in to check out the Tapas Bar. The very young birds have dark beaks. This guy was real curious, biting everything, including the wooden Tapas Bar. He seemed fascinated with the wattle, having a game of tug of war with it.

What are these star-bursts of yellow?

He looked it up and down for a minute......

Then decided to grab some. I think he was checking the texture, like a kid would with a hand.

I'd watched him pick up & drop everything else on the Tapas Bar.

But this was different. He started to pull. And pull. And pull.

Eventually he let go, it sprang back and.......

Puck me.

These things fight back

Soon after another new visitor turned up. Stan the Grey Butcherbird. He was a regular last year, and only recently returned.

I'M BAAACK.

What's good today?

Eye ball to eye ball.

Not a scene you'll likely see.

With Red being Red right now, it has certainly had a dramatic effect on who gets on with who.

Only a couple of days ago these guys were at each other’s throat. Literally.

Food can be both the Pacifist & Antagonist

A Koobbit is a rare critter & unique to Saratoga.

One second it’s a Kookaburra, then you blink, and WTF, a Rabbit.

Shape Shifting to a critter more suited to the menu.

A Kookaburra.

A Koobbit.

Bet the Survey crew don't have one of these.

Two of the Bowerbird tribe turn up. Brad and Shiloh.

I only wished they liked to dine together.

Brad about to try some paw paw

Since the Wattle sprigs were set up, Shiloh likes to land behind it.

I'm sure he thinks he's invisible.

To me it looks like a Wattle Cloak a bit like a

Parliamentarian might wear.

The Tongue maketh the Bird.

Have a look at Brads. He's a fruit eater. You'll notice it's spatula shaped at the end of what looks like a fairly strong muscle. They push this up to the roof of their beak, which is similar in shape except it has a groove. Brad squishes the fruit which not only mashes it, but the juice is pushed into that groove, running down to his stomach.

Stay tuned for part 3. I hope you've enjoyed. If you're a bird feeder, remember register now.

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Feeding wild birds. Good or Bad??

Is it good or bad to feed birds? Soo many do it. Studies show that between 35% - 75% of households feed birds (World-wide) and Australia (35% - 55%) seems be along those same lines.

But what is the effect on the birds? Truth be known? We know very little.

The CSIRO did quite an in-depth study on bird feeding. It looked at it from angles I hadn't even considered. Religious & cultural importance. The relationship formed between the person & the bird.  Effect of urbanisation & MOST IMPOTANTLY dispelling many of the myths about why it's bad to feed wild birds. Also note worthy by them was, Australia seems to be on its own to officially discourage bird feeding, and they were at a loss to explain...  

http://www.publish.csiro.au/view/journals/dsp_journal_fulltext.cfm?nid=96&f=MUv111n2_ED

But the study didn't delve deeper into what was being fed & the impact that is having.

This month (August) Deakin University is holding a National survey for those that feed “wild birds” or have a bird bath. I have registered both the Tapas Bar & the Tranquillity Pool. They want 20 minute windows on feeding stations 3 times/week. Here’s their link https://csdb.org.au/feedingbirds/home.aspx

I understand the 20 minute window, as you can’t expect Joe Citizen to spend hours doing this.
But I do spend hours. Not only that, I have Headley filming it all. I get to see not only the moment, but the background behind it. This I feel must be of some value to someone, and to that effect, sent off an email to Deakin Uni offering my help.
So in that vein I’m making this post.
It also allows me to add background to the photos. The survey allows photos with each species sighted, but a photo doesn't describe the circumstance. So while you'll find the photos up to standard, I might have to curb my humour (mostly) for this post and be factual.

I’ve done 4 surveys so far, here is the first 2. I’ve added a few extra photos to this blog to give background before the survey started.

2/8/16.

Tapas Bar
Today’s Menu; Finely sliced pear & grapes with apple match sticks, sprinkled with Panko Breadcrumbs (everyone likes the breadcrumbs & a teaspoon goes a long way).
During the 20 minutes; Both Brad the male Satin Bowerbird and Shiloh, his son, turned up, followed Cedrick & Daphne the Lorikeets. Then there was Red the protagonist Red Wattlebird.

This is Brad the adult male Satin Bowerbird.

He visits 3 - 5 times a day

His favourite food is grapes.

This is Shiloh, a juvenile male Satin Bowerbird.

He turns black at age 7.

His favourite food is mashed potato/pumpkin

Cedrick & Daphne the Lorikeets.

Cute & Colourful,

and will attack anyone that gets in their face.

They LOVE grapes

This is Red, my local Red Wattlebird.

Breeding season has just started

and he's been a handful taking on everyone,

including the Lorries.

His fav is  banana.

Tranquillity Pool

Shiloh was the only one.

Shiloh grabbing a quick drink.

Then there is what happened over 4 hours;
Cedrick & Daphne returned along with a couple of mates. It took them all of 20 mins to clean it all up.

Number one, that’s it. Stay there.
Two, back a little, a little more. Now don’t move.
Three, you’re going to have to pull your head in.
YOU PULL YOUR OWN HEAD IN! JUST TAKE THE DAMN PHOTO!

The day before the survey started, Red took on Judge John Deed, a Crested Pigeon. What happened was a surprise to both Red & me. Although I think Red got the bigger surprise. The Judge didn’t take a backward step. The next few photos were outside the survey time and are for background only.

You would think the Judge was in for a bit of a surprise.

You'd be wrong.

Stopped dead in his tracks.

Red runs into a brick wall of soft.

Reds final humiliation.

Look closely. That's Red tucked under the Judges wing.

The Judge & Jailer.

Seems birds do have a memory, for the next day both Red & the Judge fly up to the Tranquillity Pool. After an eye ball to eye ball, Red gave some unseen acquiescence, and the Judge proceeded to the Tapas Bar unchallenged.

The Great Stare-Down.

Acquiescence.

The next to visit is an interesting bird. I have a regular pair of Pee Wees (Magpie Larks), Pedro & Pernicious. They have the reputation of little birds with big heart. They will take on any predator and are quite aggressive. I don’t see much of that, except when a Local Sea Eagle cruises over. And I think that’s because of my next point of interest. They rarely visit the Tapas Bar. They’re in my backyard every day, they walk around the base of the Tapas Bar eating the fall overs, they’ll fly up to the Tranquillity Pool for a drink, so I know they can see the food, still they reluctantly feed off it. Today I was lucky, Pernicious came to check for any left overs.

Pernicious the female Pee Wee (Magpie Lark)

She has the white chin.

Rice & Breadcrumbs tempt her.

Shiloh returned while Cedrick & Daphne were still feeding. This lot have clashed before & Shiloh knows how cantankerous they are. He looks closely. Cedrick’s eating the last grape, there are a few tasty left overs, but are they worth the aggravation? He thinks not. But he did give it a bloody good look.

Could I? Should I?

It looks so tasty......but....

NOT worth the agro

5/8/16 (what an epic day this was).

Tapas Bar

Today’s Menu: Sliced grapes, diced apple & Rock Melon wedges & some breadcrumbs.

During the 20 minutes; Angelina a female Satin Bowerbird & Shiloh’s mother was the first in today.

She started with some grape, juggled it, lost it, and then decided that it’s easier to eat on the Tapas Bar.

Grape, my second favourite food.

Bugger!

Slippery suckers.

That's better.

This is when Red arrived. He was in a mood to take on anyone. Another mistake for Red. Angelina was like the Judge, but with a bit more attitude. She took him on, mid attack. Again he lost this battle.

Red taking on Angelina.

BIG mistake!

After having his arse kicked by a Crested Pidgeon & a girl, he needed some redemption.

Now who was the nastiest dog in the junk yard……..Cedrick.

With his back to him, Red launched his attack. Catching Cedrick by surprise, he did some Lorikeet surfing. He'd pushed his luck & won. He didn't try that again.

Yah Hooo. Ride that big green wave..

I'M LORRIE SURFING.

So now we have a really pissed off Lorikeet, and Button the Kookaburra turns up. These guys don’t like each other much. As for battles, so far the outcome is about 50/50. Today wasn’t Buttons day. He lost 2 for 2. The lead photo for this post where it looks like Button has Cedrick's head in his mouth is not what it seems. Check out the video. You'll be surprised.

https://youtu.be/fq4aFI2ReMo

Poor timing Button.

All she wanted was the rock melon.

Cedrick doing a bit of bird surfing himself.

This was the last straw & Button took off.

Down 2 for 2. Not a good day for the Kookaburras.

With Red “In Season” and taking on everyone. Losing some, winning some.

Well this has led to some unusual alliances.

Mal the Noisy Miner is a cheeky bugger. Every time he approaches the Tapas Bar he’s attacked by Red. But he’s noticed Red won’t take on the Lorries, so maybe a quick way to get a feed. Problem is the Lorries don’t like him much either. But their focus is on Red today.

Mals thinking

"Well they're not attacking me, that's a good thing right?

But they do look fearsome"

The next unlikely truce was with Shiloh and the Lorries Cedrick & Daphne. The Bowerbirds & the Lorries don’t get on as well. Again, like Mal, Shiloh is attacked by Red every time he approaches. Seems Cedrick & Daphne are Switzerland. Again, like Mal, they tolerate Shiloh.

Cedrick & Daphne are a pre occupied.

Good opportunity for Shiloh.

The Tranquillity Pool
Again Shiloh was the only one.

Well, that's it for now.
Keep tuned for the next instalment of the National Bird Survey.

Hear Ye. Hear Ye

The Tapas Bar is Mine.

My name is Red.