Got Told off for Feeding Native Birds by Neighbours

Lbala fish on 01/02/2021 - 13:41
Last edited 01/02/2021 - 14:56 by 1 other user

Hi everyone.

I've just moved into my new house with my family 1 month ago where there are a lot of native birds around. I bought wild parrot seed mix and started feeding them in a little pot on the floor underneath my balcony. The birds that come by for the seeds are sulphur crested cockatoos, rainbow lorikeets, and I saw a crimson rosella parrot last week too! The cockatoos come in groups of 3-5 but the most I've seen at one time is 12.

Last weekend in the morning I saw some 3 cockatoos come by waiting for a feed. I refilled the pot and I was watching them from the balcony when the next door neighbour went onto her balcony (about 25 metres away- we live on a large piece of land) and shouted at us "HEY! YOU'RE NOT ALLOWED TO FEED THEM. STOP FEEDING THE BIRDS. THEY EAT EVERYTHING" while gesturing to her balcony and house?? And stormed back in.

Now the neighbours haven't been the friendliest since we moved. We try to gesture hello but they just ignore us…

Here's the kicker. I've seen them feed a group of kookaburras everyday at a certain time so I thought it was ok for me to feed the native birds too. I don't feed pigeons (not that there are any here), crows or magpies. Previously I feed the birds at my place about 2 handfuls of of seeds 3 times a week. Well I'm not going to feed them anymore now as its left a bad taste in my mouth.

I did read up on native bird feeding and it is discouraged so I shall stop anyways.

I just wanted your thoughts on the situation and also vent a little bit. I know I am in the wrong in feeding them now but I think they're being hypocritical but I'm not going to fight them on it as they do seem a bit unhinged in their other behaviours.

Home & Garden

Comments

  • Jimothy Wongingtons on 01/02/2021 - 13:45
    +83

    People- what a bunch of ba*tards.

    IMO totally within rights to feed. You’ll get people who tell you it’s not good for them but hey.

    My elderly father feeds the local rainbow lorikeets and for him that’s literally his high point of the day…

    • Lanushi on 01/02/2021 - 22:19
      +37

      “I came here to drink milk and feed birds… and I’ve just finished my milk.”

    • lgacb08 on 01/02/2021 - 22:58
      +22

      there's reason that signs exist everywhere from council parks to national parks reminding people not to feed them. If you want to watch them do you research and get the appropriate spots watching them, life doesn't work the way princess Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty like.

      • wozz on 02/02/2021 - 07:17
        +15

        I think the worst offenders are the nuggets that think its a great idea to feed ducks bread, even when there are signs stating not too (its not ideal to feed them anything, but if you're gonna do it, dont give em bloody bread)

        • aoeueoa on 04/02/2021 - 06:27
          +9

          I agree. There was a landmark longitudinal study that was published in 2018 which concluded that ducks should not be fed bread because they prefer hot chips instead.

    • wizzlesticks on 02/02/2021 - 00:01
      +28

      Humans have turned some bird species from fully independent hunters to fully reliant scavengers (sea gulls is one example). Please don't do this to native birds. It might be satisfying to watch but you are damaging the bird's native instincts. I really can't believe humans need to be told this.

      • JungliChilli on 02/02/2021 - 07:25
        +15

        I think your comment is unreasonable. No one is perfect and everyone has learnt something new through out their life no matter how trival something is.

        • Blitzfx on 02/02/2021 - 09:35
          +4

          Exactly. It's not common knowledge, and if anything it's counter intuitive because you'd normally think feeding an animal food is a good thing, helping them stay alive.

          • Munki on 02/02/2021 - 10:50
            +5

            @Blitzfx: Therein lies the problem. It should be common knowledge.

            • resisting the urge on 04/02/2021 - 11:21
              +1

              @Munki: It is common knowledge.

              It is also true to say that we are particularly good at not thinking- especially about the effects of our own actions.

              And if we don't think about the effects, we don't act, we just continue to do more of the same.

          • Zondor on 02/02/2021 - 15:31
            +4

            @Blitzfx: I think it is common knowledge, people just choose to ignore it.

      • Scrooge McDuck on 02/02/2021 - 13:28
        +24

        Humans have turned some bird species from fully independent hunters to fully reliant scavengers (sea gulls is one example).

        And we did the same to ourselves with JobKeeper.

        • frewer on 03/02/2021 - 15:56

          LMAO thank you

      • samfisher5986 on 02/02/2021 - 13:57

        Thats misleading though, those scavenger birds would likely still be scavenger birds if everyone refused to feed them. The rubbish they eat is because of humans, but its not on purpose.

        There is no proof we've done any damage by purposely feeding them food.

        • skillet on 02/02/2021 - 15:50

          We are not going anywhere anytime soon, someone will feed them.

        • resisting the urge on 04/02/2021 - 11:40
          +1

          What scavenger birds? Are you seriously calling birds that eats nectar, or grains, scavengers? Or do you mean vultures? Maybe you mean all birds?

          Surely everything is a scavenger. After all, farming is just a method of organised scavenging- instead of an effort to search and gather, we prepare and harvest to reduce overall effort.

          BTW, There is plenty of documented damage to bird populations- from the impact of different diet to the vastly increased spread of communicable diseases, due to the regularity of feeding around backyard feeders allowing parasites and bacteria to get transferred. Note: @whooh1979 below has posted advice from WIRES which talks about this and is proper, scientifically based advice.

          My neighbour feeds the cockatoos too. Sometimes 200 show up, in our area the flocks fly from house to house all day. Mostly they get fed sunflower seeds. They poop on everything, land on anything they can, chew it to condition their beaks as they don't wear down when eating just soft seeds. So TV aerials, verandahs, entire balconies, roof tiles, solar panels, wiring, anything is fair game.

          Not to mention vegetable patches, fruits in trees… waiting for the neighbour to bring out the sunflower seeds they gobble anything in sight.

          Her hubby feeds meat to the magpies, kookaburras and butcher birds. Result is that they produce 2 fledglings per year, impacting other birds who will have their young eaten in their nests at higher rates. Not to mention our frogs, dragon flies, lizards, and so on.

          Nothing I say seems to change their minds though. And I can't stop the Kookas hunting and pooping above our pond all day either.

          • samfisher5986 on 04/02/2021 - 13:25

            @resisting the urge: A really long post based on an incorrect assumption.

            By scavenger birds I meant birds that eat our leftover food all over the world. All birds do this depending on what they are interested in.

      • pufffdragon on 02/02/2021 - 22:29

        You must be the neighbour.

    • gyrex on 02/02/2021 - 12:20
      +2

      It's probably not within his/her rights to feed the birds. Many local councils have laws prohibiting it for a number of reasons.

    • Orico on 02/02/2021 - 15:18
      -5

      My elderly father feeds the local rainbow lorikeets and for him that’s literally his high point of the day…

      Most annoying birds in the world. Hope they drop dead. Cant even sleep

  • Muzeeb on 01/02/2021 - 13:46
    +154

    Cockatoos are very destructive and will literally eat your balcony. I personally wouldn't be encouraging them on to my house.

    12 will turn into 120 in no time.

    Your neighbour is right but maybe their approach was not well executed.

    • bala fish on 01/02/2021 - 14:06
      +10

      True I dont want them to damage my house either. I didnt know about their destructive nature and now I wont feed them anymore. But yea.. really didnt enjoy being shouted at while enjoying my Sunday morning.

      • codinghelloworld on 01/02/2021 - 21:37
        +2

        I remember every year I always see one or two cockatoos dead under the trees, reason is they fight each other for food. Yes, they are destructive and aggressive as well.

        • Scrooge McDuck on 02/02/2021 - 13:36
          +4

          They also make a terrible racket.

          … I once saw a gang of them stand over a chip shop for 30 %!!

          • CVonC on 03/02/2021 - 12:59
            +1

            @Scrooge McDuck:

            I once saw a gang of them stand over a chip shop for 30 %!!

            You sure it wasn't an OzBargain meet up?

      • Transient on 01/02/2021 - 21:39
        +5

        I think it is just the cockatoos and certain parrots. They can be pretty destructive certain times of the year. Perhaps they were gesturing at their house and balcony as it may have happened to them before. I had a few cockatoos decimate some of my fruit trees. Happens around Spring time, only once a year for me. Now I just harvest the fruit before they come over. Also this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FE4GxzZ4Sr4

        • MrFrugalSpend on 01/02/2021 - 22:32
          +1

          wow! I had no idea they caused that much damage!

        • Boogerman on 02/02/2021 - 08:41
          -1

          Plant natives then

          • resisting the urge on 04/02/2021 - 11:41
            -1

            @Boogerman: A bored cocky, waiting for his seeds to come out, will do a great job of anything, native plants included

      • bunkymag on 02/02/2021 - 08:19
        +1

        It’d take a pretty fierce whisper from 25m away..

        • Daabido on 02/02/2021 - 20:29
          +1

          Hey Andy!

        • bala fish on 03/02/2021 - 10:29

          Eh there are better ways it couldve been done. A chat wouldve sufficed.

          • thanatos350 on 03/02/2021 - 12:58

            @bala fish: You're right, but so is bunkymag.

            Your neighbours might not be rude, and instead could be a little antisocial, quiet or just hold a preference to keep to themselves - only piping up when circumstance required it.

            I've been in their position before. I've basically ignored neighbours, friends and even relatives near my home on days where I've just preferred to park, get inside, and do my own thing.

            Judging by everyone's comments regarding cockatoo behavior, it seems that she might have been doing you a solid. Go tell her that you've looked it up and thank her for her advice. It might be enough to catalyse a good relationship.

      • Harold Halfprice on 02/02/2021 - 08:38
        +2

        I live in a bushy area, and there are lots of cockatoos.

        They are beautiful birds but can be quite destructive and loud - there are a couple of trees on our nature strip which they love. They come in massive flocks and literally chew branches off! Can't park the car underneath

      • Praeto on 02/02/2021 - 11:15
        +2

        My pop used to feed native birds on his balcony, and the damage the cockatoos he attracts have done is significant. I don't feed them, but I have a tree out the front that they like, and every year I get about 40 of them show up. They destroy the tree, then they destroy my TV antenna then have a go at anything else they can. You don't want them around.

      • trapper on 02/02/2021 - 11:41
        +5

        Your neighbors sound like dicks, but I'd go over and try and patch things up anyway. It sucks to have any weird vibe lingering with neighbors.

        Just say you thought about and agree, it's probably a bad idea to be feeding the birds, so won't be doing it any more.

      • 811b11e8 on 02/02/2021 - 14:49
        +3

        This is fully right cockatoos become very demanding if you feed them regularly and then stop.

        You can expect them to show up at the same time every day and if they don't get fed they will pull down branches, and make a mess best case.

        I've seen them pull apart a wooden bird house as it was empty and destroy the wooden window frames of a house because someone had been feeding them and stopped.

        Guessing the neighbor is burned by this in the past and just overreacted.

        I would feed her Kookaburras some sausage they love it :) I also feed the local magpies while training dogs they love a little bit of dog food treats. I've never been swooped by local magpies and even trained a couple to line up with the dogs during training!.

        Pretty much any big bird with a round beak like a cockatoo you probably don't want to feed at home. They can use that beak to break up anything wooden around the house or even rubber door trims on cars.

        • xylarr on 02/02/2021 - 17:49
          +2

          Oh definitely you do not want Cockatoos as your enemy.
          We made the mistake of feeding them some mixed seed. The threw out all the seed except the sunflower seeds. Thinking we would be nice, we bought some sunflower seed - they LOVE that shit.
          They turned up every day asking for their feed. If we weren't quick enough to respond, they pulled out our succulents - we've lost fully half of them now.
          We read a bit more, and have realised feeding them is not good - for us or them.
          But now we are in the process of "training" them to stay away. We just spray them with water using a trigger bottle. They're coming back less - but I think it will be a few weeks before they learn we won't feed them any more.

          • mjcoll123 on 06/02/2021 - 04:33

            @xylarr: We do the spray training thing too, since we lost a section of our kitchen window fly screen! Most of our locals (only about six or seven) know if they hassle me I can’t resist them and they’ll get some seed if they wait until the maggies and smaller parrots have had a feed, although there’s one that will take anything - water squirt, going right up to him and waving him away. He’s got attitude! They get a bit nervous if my partner’s home, as he has no qualms about squirting them.

            I’ve given the pros and cons of feeding wild birds a lot of thought over the years and have come to the conclusion that the occasional treat (other than bread) doesn’t hurt them as long as they don’t become too reliant on it and you feed them stuff that’s not too bad for them. And there’s an argument that we’ve taken so much of their habitat that they could use a hand.

            I was spoiling our magpies way too much at one stage and, while they loved it, it wasn’t good for them, especially the chicks. Now I give them freeze dried crickets because they need calcium and protein. And the cockies don’t get 100% sunflower seed - they have to pick it out of the mixed seed if they want it. Perhaps the OP should ask their bossy neighbours if what they’re feeding their kookas is helping or harming them! Who made them the boss of who can and can’t feed the birds?

      • CalmLemons on 02/02/2021 - 21:42

        yeah but think about it this way, i doubt your neighbour has ceo level interpersonal skills. it's probably gary from the pub.

        anyway, where we work, most of these birds get ko'd by trucks on the highway.

      • fortalyst on 03/02/2021 - 18:45
        +1

        Yeah discourage the Cockies as much as you can coz they'll gnaw away at anything which is made from wood… If you wanna keep the Lorikeet buddies around then switch up the food you're offering to something more specialized like nectar and start growing some native plants which have nice flowers with lots of nectar like Wattle

      • Hangryuman on 05/02/2021 - 09:15
        +1

        sounds like your neighbour is an R Soul who just tried to dump the monkey of bad feeling off their back onto you

        if they can get you riled up then they can feel better - they can feel their s#itty life is not their fault - it's YOUR fault so they can blame and externalise all their anger onto you.

        best ignore A Holes like this - any interaction is likely to be turned against you

    • Flying Ace on 01/02/2021 - 15:02
      +6

      We've been feeding Cockatoos for years and they haven't swelled into a huge gang, nor have they damaged anything.

      • stratbargain on 01/02/2021 - 19:55
        +8

        I watched about 6 Cockatoos pull Styrofoam lettering off the side of a building near home. It was hilarious to watch (for me). In about 5 minutes they had removed most of the lettering (what remained of it). I can only assume the rest had already gone due to an earlier mob.

        I tried to capture the difference with a couple of street views.

        https://imgur.com/a/UjZRlGg

      • jjjaar on 01/02/2021 - 20:18
        +3

        Same here. There’s a couple that we’ve been feeding for ages and it’s never expanded beyond those two.

      • kale chips suck on 02/02/2021 - 10:17
        +4

        My neighbours do it and have no trees.

        So I now regularly get 40+ of the bastards screaming their heads off at each other in my trees - because I haven't cut my trees down to overdevelop my block.

        Every year they decimate my crop of fruit. All of it, gone, every year. They don't even eat it, they just rip an unripe plums off the branch, spit it out, then go for the next one. In a few hours, no plums left.

        I'd say you've been lucky.

        • Munki on 02/02/2021 - 10:52

          Yeah, there's a reason why their name is synonymous with dicks.

        • 811b11e8 on 02/02/2021 - 14:55

          They normally just want the seed inside the plumb and ignore the flesh!

          My grandparents place has about 20 plum trees and the cockatoos turn the whole backyard red some years with plums.

    • Neilzy on 01/02/2021 - 16:00
      +6

      Our local park/reserve sees a flock of about 150/200 every morning. They upturn the grass to get to the buds and are loud as fk

    • crentist on 01/02/2021 - 17:59
      +12

      Had this problem in my old house. For a little while it's cool having the balcony filled with cockatoos.
      Then they started ripping up all the wood railings and flooring and were basically just destroying the place.

      It didn't happen overnight or anything, we had been enjoying the occasional birds for years. But at some point they turned into a massive flock of assholes.

    • Lastchancetosee on 02/02/2021 - 13:23
      +3

      Maybe watch Hitchcock's 'The Birds' to get the general idea.

    • paranoidguy on 02/02/2021 - 14:51

      Cockatoos are the bird bikies?

    • xordis on 04/02/2021 - 21:26

      Came to say this.
      1 will turn into 40 in weeks. Then they get frustrated and start destroying the place. They are pricks.

      Also the dropped seed will bring rats.

  • capslock on 01/02/2021 - 13:47
    +53

    When you see them feed the kookaburras, can't you yell at them and say "HEY! YOU'RE NOT ALLOWED TO FEED THEM. STOP FEEDING THE BIRDS. THEY EAT EVERYTHING" and gesture at your balcony and house?

    • Quantumcat on 01/02/2021 - 13:57
      +63

      Username checks out

  • Drakesy on 01/02/2021 - 13:47
    +3

    Nothing illegal with feeding birds, maybe if there's an excess of crap or noise that comes as a result you might want to cut back.

    Sometimes People just don't want other people to enjoy their lives.

    • 811b11e8 on 02/02/2021 - 14:58
      +1

      Its a $1,610 fine in some councils in Victoria, but I doubt anyone would actually get fined at there own home, more likely in parks and play grounds.

  • Cheeper on 01/02/2021 - 13:47
    +18

    "The cockatoos come in groups of 3-5 but the most I've seen at one time is 12."
    Lovely birds and friendly but… they are very destructive… chew verandah railings, tv antennas, etc..

    Don't fight them on it.. go over and introduce yourself and have a chat. He may know things about the local wildlife that you don"t.
    Worth a try..?

  • whooah1979 on 01/02/2021 - 13:48
    +52

    https://www.wires.org.au/wildlife-info/wildlife-factsheets/f…

    WIRES does not recommend that you feed any native birds for the following reasons:

    • Most birds eat a balanced diet; 90% eat insects and nectar, seed or fruit. People feeding birds the wrong food changes the balance of their diet and can negatively impact their health.

    • Feeding birds can increase aggression and stress as many try to feed together, this wouldn’t happen naturally.

    • Feeding can increase the quantity of non-native birds, non-native rats and cockroaches, as the more food they get the more they breed.

    • Artificial feeding can change the balance of species in the wild as it can increase some species, which in turn, decreases others. The Rainbow lorikeet for example has taken great advantage of the artificial feeding and has all but eliminated the shy Scaly Breasted lorikeet from our urban areas.

    • Feeding can spread disease through a concentration of food and birds in large numbers in one place.

    • Bird seed left out in damp conditions rots, grows mould and introduces disease to the birds, and can attract rats and mice.

    • Feeding encourages birds to become dependent on humans for their survival. They can lose the ability to find food for themselves, this is particularly so if they are juveniles who should be learning to find their natural food.

    • It can cause sickness and deformities in young as high quantities of salt are present in bread and processed foods.

    • Feeding can make them overweight and high quantities of fat are present in processed food and meat. Raw meat is lacking in calcium and has high levels of phosphorous which contribute to dietary imbalance and severe deficiencies.

    • Artificial feeding is not necessary. Native birds do not need extra food as they are well adapted to their environment and will be much healthier and happier overall if left to eat only their normal diet.

  • Hithere on 01/02/2021 - 13:51
    +4

    There are no federal laws prohibiting the feeding of native birds in Australia. However, it can still lead to stiff penalties from some councils. For example, Adelaidian shoppers who get caught feeding birds at Rundle Mall can be fined up to $125. So while not strictly “illegal” you can still end up in court for throwing that kookaburra a chippie.

    Regardless of the by-laws where you live, feeding a bird on your own property is unlikely to result in a fine. But that doesn’t mean you should do it. The practice is strongly frowned upon by Australian wildlife and environmental authorities, and most of their concerns are backed by scientific evidence.

    https://www.lifehacker.com.au/2018/01/is-it-legal-to-feed-wi…

    • Amaris on 03/02/2021 - 23:22
      +1

      This article says there's no evidence to back these claims
      https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/dec/09/feed-the…

      • resisting the urge on 04/02/2021 - 11:58
        +2

        That is based on what some bloke from Ireland is quoted as saying in the article.

        I doubt any ornithologist would back him up, let alone an Australian one.

        Besides, as a group, colonials have hardly got a reputation for doing any wildlife in Australia a favour, at any point in history!

        And he is ignoring the numerous studies showing backyard feeding make numerous impacts and behavioural changes to our native birdlife. Probably just doesn't bother looking into it…

        • Amaris on 04/02/2021 - 16:20

          Do you mean to say that all the people feeding birds in the UK and US (where it's not frowned upon) are doing the wrong thing? Are British and US Ornithologists being ignored or are they wrong too? Or maybe the birds in Australia are different….

          https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/advice/how-you-ca…
          https://www.bto.org/community/blog/garden-birds-feed-or-not-…

          • resisting the urge on 05/02/2021 - 12:14
            +1

            @Amaris: Not at all, just that you can't say its ok to feed native birds. Just as you can't say its not.

            It depends on their need, and any impact it has on their behaviour, other species… not to mention the neighbours!

            Here in Oz things are completely different as we are custodians of a lot of native birds and wildlife. In the US, animals are used and abused, sometimes to the extent that it happens in other countries where they are used as a method of survival. In the UK, very few of the original native birds remain, as humans have been heavily impacting them and their environments for years. Oz has thousands of different native birds, the diversity left for us to care for is greater here than anywhere on the planet, and this is critically threatened.

            But the same will happen to our native species if we continue to increase our footprint as we have in the last two centuries. If we don't work to reduce our impact on native species it will all go. What occurs now, in what's left of the ecosystems elsewhere, has no relation. Here in Oz, we need to feed more carefully, plant more carefully, and observe bird behaviour better. We can't just say it is okay to deed natives, or not. We just need to be careful how we do everything now. There is no easy answer.

            The problem is that for many, all they care about is feeling good for a few minutes on a short break. This is more self gratification and a disregard for everything else.

            • Amaris on 05/02/2021 - 22:53

              @resisting the urge:

              We can't just say it is okay to deed natives, or not

              So you agree there's no hard evidence to prove or disprove that feeding birds is bad?

              Also, Google tells us that the UK has 622 species of birds and Australia 898. The US has 1269.

              In the US, animals are used and abused
              as a group, colonials have hardly got a reputation for doing any wildlife in Australia a favour, at any point in history!

              You like to generalise, don't you?

              • resisting the urge on 08/02/2021 - 12:38

                @Amaris: I did say native species, not endemic, introduced, migratory, etc.

                You are counting all, in a continent close to europe (you know, since birds fly)

                Not all facts are plain or obvious. You need to do some science, or read what others are doing. A lot of people are out there counting every day. Maybe they feel Google can't just tell them everything.

  • whooah1979 on 01/02/2021 - 13:53
    +10

    Wild native birds have survived on a natural diet in Australia for 1000s of years. They don't need man-made food.

    BTW. Please stop feeding pigeons.

    • Almost Banned on 01/02/2021 - 14:00
      -1

      "man-made" - in wild parrot seed mix, which contains things like grey stripe sunflower, oats, safflower, cracked corn, barley, milo and wheat.
      Those 'man-made' foods?

      • jorf on 01/02/2021 - 14:09
        +21

        They are when they are mass-harvested, packaged and then supplied to birds in concentrated bulk quantities that they wouldn't find in the wild.

      • whooah1979 on 01/02/2021 - 14:14
        +1

        Any food that has been cultivated, processed or prepared by humans is man-made.

      • PotPlant on 02/02/2021 - 12:34

        If you do some research, you will see that these seed mixes that are commonly available are categorised as junk food for cockatoos, and particularly parrots and lorikeets.
        It is extremely high in calories and well….just really really bad for them to have whenever they want it! We had a pet rainbow Lori and were very firmly instructed to only give these seed mixes as a treat, very occasionally, often just a tiny bit as a reward for doing a trick etc…..this was advice by our vet who was actually a bird expert. Having it available 24/7 is a terribly cruel idea for wild birds, it's just that most people don't know it.

        • xylarr on 02/02/2021 - 17:51
          +1

          It really is junk food - just watch their behaviour with sunflower seeds. They throw out all other seeds just to get them.

      • abb on 02/02/2021 - 13:38
        +2

        grey stripe sunflower, oats, safflower, cracked corn, barley, milo and wheat

        Funnily enough, none of those ingredients are indigenous to Australia.

        Except maybe the Milo, but I'm not sure it's a good thing for birds either.

    • bala fish on 01/02/2021 - 15:09
      +3

      I dont feed the pigeons

    • Stopback on 01/02/2021 - 16:34
      +1

      humans aren't feeding the birds

      the birds are feeding the humans love and something

  • Quantumcat on 01/02/2021 - 13:58
    +11

    It is only the cockatoos that are the problem in terms of eating wooden parts of houses. You could just attract the rainbow lorikeets by putting out dry nectar powder, or making up liquid nectar (but have to remove it after a few hours as it will grow bacteria). You can buy this in supermarkets in the pet section near where you got the wild parrot seed.

    You can also attract birds to your garden by installing a bird bath and planting particular trees and shrubs

    • bala fish on 01/02/2021 - 14:08

      I will look into this! Thank you

      • RotundPolarBear on 02/02/2021 - 11:44
        +1

        Noisy miners will also be attracted to and eat this lorikeet nectar powder too. Not sure if you like those little birds.

    • chriskq on 02/02/2021 - 00:05
      +1

      few different type of birds love the lilly pilly berries we have on our boundary… however i've also seen possums that get them too

    • PotPlant on 02/02/2021 - 12:39

      Need to be careful even with most easily available Nectar powders….it's basically just "sugar dust" and is very bad for the birds in the long run. Need to make up your own (google it) or buy reputable stuff from a vet that has very low sugar- or you will be slowly turning the birds into lazy diabetics… and I'm not joking!

  • wallet72 on 01/02/2021 - 14:03
    +3

    I love feeding the birds… but we ended up with so many cockatoos they broke our TV antenna and made the clothes line filthy from s$itting on it.

    • Muzeeb on 01/02/2021 - 14:27
      +8

      They were shitting money on your clothes line and you discouraged them?

  • Nugs on 01/02/2021 - 14:05
    +3

    Destructo
    mmm tasty "asphalt on the netball and tennis courts"
    https://www.9news.com.au/national/cockatoos-chew-up-sa-town/…
    .

    • SF3 on 01/02/2021 - 14:15

      Sounds like a scene from a horror movie!

    • Muzeeb on 01/02/2021 - 14:29
      +3

      OP is in NSW so should be ok

      The meth crested cockatoos in SA are a wild bunch

  • dasher86 on 01/02/2021 - 14:33
    +10

    Throw the seeds sneakily into your neighbours yard…

    • SF3 on 01/02/2021 - 14:37
      +2

      sneakily

      on to the roof I reckon… so the seeds can't be seen.

  • Baysew on 01/02/2021 - 14:52
    +35

    Check to see how close their carport is to the boundary.

  • ihbh on 01/02/2021 - 15:20
    +3

    I've seen them feed a group of kookaburras

    Difference between cockatoos and kookaburras:

    • Feed in flocks
    • Very destructive - grow some mandarins and you'll understand. Kookaburras eat worms, insects, etc.

    saw rainbow lorikeets, and I saw a crimson rosella

    Grow some flowering trees such as camellias and you'll see these every year in great numbers in your yard.

    • abb on 02/02/2021 - 13:41
      +2

      flowering trees such as camellias

      Probably be better served with bottlebrush, lilly pilly, or other natives.

      • ihbh on 02/02/2021 - 15:00
        +1

        Definitely natives first.

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