Did you know?
At least 1000 bird species around the world now face extinction!
Less than 100 mature Coxens Fig Parrots are believed to be left in the wild
Habitat destruction is a major cause of the decline in bird numbers
Cats kill several million birds very year in Australia
Sunbird photograph by ©Tom Sjolund.
You can help birds in a wide variety of different ways, from having a bird bath in your garden to becoming involved in helping a threatened species to survive. One way that you can help birds is to join Birds Australia. This will swell the numbers of members and give Birds Australia a stronger voice when it comes to representing the interests of birds at national forums. It will also give you access to the world of birds and provide you with automatic membership of Birds Capricornia and an invitation to all of our local activities. There are many other ways you can help birds and you can explore some of these by following the links below.
Join BA Threatened birds Threatened Bird Network In your garden
Join BA ^
To join Birds Australia all that you have to do is to download an application form from the BA website fill it in and send off by fax, email or post. Birds Capricornia will be advised of your new membership and we will contact you to introduce ourselves and advise you of upcoming activities. Visit the membership page to get your form.
Threatened birds ^
There are quite a number of threatened birds across Australia and some of them are right here in our region. The list of some of the threatened birds in our region is below. For some of these a PDF file is available that describes their status in more detail.
| Coxens Fig Parrot found in the coastal regions from Port Macquarie to Mt Larcom | |
| Swift Parrot found in coastal and inland areas from Tasmania to Central Queensland | |
| Plains Wanderer found in scattered populations in Victoria, South Australia, NSW and Western areas of Central Queensland | |
| Yellow Chat (Capricorn) there is only one officially recognised population on Curtis Island. This sub species is critically endangerd |
Birds Capricornia is interested in setting up monitoring groups for each of these species to collect data about numbers, locations and distribution. If you are interested in setting up a group please contact our Secretary.
Threatened Bird Network (TBN) ^
The Threatened Bird Network is funded by the Natural Heritage Trust and Birds Australia. It establishes teams of volunteers who carry out a wide range of support activities for threatened birds in specific areas. If you would like to become involved in helping a threatened bird species then have a look on the threatened birds web page at the Birds Australia website or Email them.
In your garden ^
There is a lot you can do to help birds in your own back yard. Some of these are described below.
Bird bath
A bird bath is a great way to help birds by providing them with not only water to drink but also to have a bath in. During the hot summer months and dry winter months many birds can become dehydrated and a regular supply of clean, fresh water will keep them alive. Birds also need to keep their feathers in good shape and a good wash followed by vigorous preening will do the trick.
Bird feeding
Bird feeding is not encouraged because often what is being fed to birds is not part of their natural diet. This can have unhealthy side effects such as deformities and poor health. Bird feeding also only tends to attract the more agressive species such as Rainbow Lorikeet at the expense of timid species such as Pale Headed Rosella. This promotes the numbers of the agressive species and causes a man made imbalance. If you really want to attract birds to your garden then plant a wide variety of trees and shrubs to create a more natural habitat with plenty of natural foods. Careful selection of tree and shrub species will attract a much wider number of different bird species and give you far more pleasure than having your garden full of only one species.
Grasses, reeds and weeds
Many birds such as finches feed on seeds and need grasses to attract them to a garden. Reeds in water features will attract species such as reed warblers. Even weeds have flowers and attract insects that in turn attract birds to feed on the insects. By leaving parts of your garden 'wild' you will improve the numbers of species you attract. Wide expanses of carefully tended lawn might look nice but they are not much good as habitats for birds.
Nest boxes
With the destruction of old growth trees many birds are unable to find hollows to build their nests. You can help by building a nesting box and putting it in your garden. You will find that each bird species has different nesting requirements and each nesting box has to be built to suit the birds needs. For example the Striated Pardalote needs a long narrow kneck to its nesting box while a Kookaburra needs a large opening with wire mesh on the inside of the opening. Birds Australia has produced an infosheet that gives some guidance on how to build nesting boxes.
Pets in urban areas
There is documented evidence from research that shows cats and dogs do kill large numbers of birds. Cats kill around seven times as many birds as dogs. While loss of habitat is a far greater threat to species survival anything we can do to reduce the numbers of birds taken by domestic pets can only help the situation. A paper by Ric Natrrass delivered at the Urban Animal Management conference gives a balanced view of the issues. The Urban Animal Management conference papers are a good source of information on this issue and they are freely available from their website.
Cats
Cats kill several million birds every year in Australia (Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary). If you want to attract birds to your garden and you have a cat as a pet you will need to keep the animal indoors. Cats are natural predators and will kill birds even if they are well fed. Putting a bell around the cats neck will warn birds of the cats presence and perhaps save a few lives. Most importantly keep your cat indoors at night. There are many nocturnal birds such as the Bush Stone Curlew that are especially vulnerable because they lay eggs in open ground.
Dogs
Dogs will generally only chase birds for fun and not kill them. However, when dogs form a pack they will attack and kill larger birds such as ducks and geese. So having a dog in your garden will cause many birds to stay away. Keeping your dog in a fenced area would help since birds would soon come to know that the other areas are dog free. Most importantly do not let your dog roam free since they do tend to form into small packs of two or three and cause problems.
Birds in Backyards
There is a Birds in Backyards study that you can become involved with. It simply involves you keeping an eye on the birds you see in your own backyard and submitting the information. Visit the website for more information.