Wattlebird eating crap

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Araminta
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Wattlebird eating crap

Last week I watched this bird eat some food run over by cars infront of the milkbar. Wahat a sad sight that was, a once proud native bird turned into an suburban opportunist DSC00005 (1)xx DSC00017 (2) DSC00051 (1) I felt very sorry for the bird.

Holly
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Well thats a first for me M-L - can't say I have ever seen a wattlebird do that.

 

Undoubtedly those birds who do well in urban areas have some flexibility in their habtiat and dietry requirements - but even that is stretching it!

Woko
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Several times I've seen red wattlebirds doing this with squashed food.

narly
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I've seen them eating pizza , chips , cake and anything else I chuck out on the back lawn for the Magpies to clean up .

Good pics M-L

Neil

Woko
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Oh, narly! Shame on you! Haven't you been paying attention to all the threads, posts, discussion, exploration, investigation about the whys & wherefors of artificially feeding native birds? Tell me that the food is to fertilize the lawn!

darinnightowl
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Oh,Woko! Birds like a change of diet too ,just like people do. They are learning to adapt with man so their species will survive. One hundred or so years ago the Australia landscape was changed by man. The birds ,mammals and insects are learning . Think rabbit , it probably saved the Wegde tail eagle - change of diet. If you take away bird feeding tables from all the backyards , don't stop there bird baths should be stopped as well,we are a dry country after all.
Nightowl

See it!  Hear it!

Mid-North Coast NSW

Headsie
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Good shots of the wattle bird, I have some in my garden and they rule the place.

narly
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Headsie wrote:

Good shots of the wattle bird, I have some in my garden and they rule the place.

Mine were the boss of the yard until the rainbow lorikeets moved in cheeky

Neil

Woko
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Hi Nightowl. That's one argument in support of artificially feeding birds, I guess. I have two problems with it, however. One is that adapting to changing conditions usually takes millions of years if I understand evolution & natural selection correctly. In Australia, we've vastly altered conditions for wildlife in the space of just over 200 years which is hardly time for adaptation to occur. The second is that artificial feeding of wildlife takes away whatever responsibility people might have for restoring natural habitats so that birds get their natural diet.

I'm also wary of sayings like "birds like a change of diet". That sort of statement, I believe, comes from a human perspective rather than a bird perspective. Birds may well enjoy the cullinary delights of a dessicated finger bun or the taste sensation of a flattened Four & Twenty pie but that doesn't mean it's of benefit to them. According to lots of posts on Birds in Backyards & what I've witnessed in one part of the Adelaide Hills artificial feeding of birds can cause big problems with bird health. The same applies to humans. There's much evidence to suggest that our own relatively rapid change of diet has led to a corpulent society with a goodly compliment of diabetes & heart problems.  

What do you think?

Araminta
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O, o, are we having that discussion again? It got me into some trouble before, not going there again.

Just one thing, if a change of diet wouldn't matter, and all animals, birds and humans would be able to change their diet, and indeed welcome it, here is a suggestion, why then couldn't we adapt to eating birdseeds? Even better, why couldn't people starving after the war, simply adapt to eating grass? Cows do!!!

 For the same reason it makes birds sick, and might kill them, and starve them of the nutrients they need. ? Because their stomachs are not equipped to digest foods other than their usual diet. (Same reason why the Koalas released into the Bunyip State Park are starving, they are used to eating the leaves of trees on French Island, and those trees are different )

The stomchs of all animals, (and ours) can only digest certain foods. Take my horse , I couldn't feed him food craps, it might eat them, but not for long, and it would get sick. 

M-L

narly
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All I'm going to say is it's all Off Topic & nothing to do with M-L's pics smiley

Neil

darinnightowl
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Hi Woko

First I'd like to say I agree.  I don't feed magpies as they chase the Yellow robins back into the adjoining forest.  I dislike kookaburras as they eat anything that moves and we make it easy for them by feeding them and making the bush  (southern states ) and the scrub  ( northern states ) tidy. These birds and many more have increased in numbers through the benefit of man. Wildlife welcomes our sewage and by what I see posted on this forum shows that bird watchers  love these places too. But where do we draw the line ?

Planting native plants that flower profusely, that are not endemic to your area - Is that right?  The end result is the wattle bird rules the roost.  

My tomato plants attract Teddy bear and Blue banded bees I could 
go on about nature adapting to its surroundings, but there is nothing better than on a  hot day, when all the birds come to my place for a cold drink and a splash around and I enjoy it just like the other bird lovers that feed the birds too, at least they're not on a noisy  motor bike with a gun in their hand - it could be worse.

Just maybe we are all loving nature to death.

Mother Nature has been here for  millions of years and she will continue to work it out even when we are gone.

Woko -- thanks for the feedback 

Nightowl

See it!  Hear it!

Mid-North Coast NSW

Araminta
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....as my 100 year old mother used to say:  Nature doesn't need us, but we need nature!!! 

If humans want to survive, we better look after it !

M-L

Owen1
Owen1's picture

What the hell is he eating surprise sooner him than me!

Cheers, Owen.

Woko
Woko's picture

You make a good point about the bird bath being a human intervention for birds, Nightowl. And also about profusely flowering Grevilleas upsetting the birdlife composition of an area.

From what I can see there are many human interventions (e.g., vandalism of forests & woodlands) which have been of total disadvantage to many bird species (e.g, fairy-wrens & thornbills) but of advantage to others (e.g., Richard's pipits & bushlarks). There are also a number of human interventions which at least partly compensate for environment-changing human actions. E.g., in my area bird baths may well compensate for the loss of rock pools in water courses because landowners have built dams which prevent natural replenishment of the rock pools. Another example would be the sewage ponds which are part compensation for the destruction of wetlands for ports & housing estates. However, it's highly unlikely that humans can fully compensate for the myriad environmental factors that are destroyed when we intervene in the environment. E.g., all the algae & tiny aquatic creatures that die when the above rock pools aren't naturally replenished. This makes for a strong argument for making our foot print as small as possible, especially these days when we know that biodiversity is threatened in so many parts of Earth. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that unless we cease our human-centric approach to Earth we endanger the survival of our species, Homo sapiens, although this idea is anathema to most people I would think.

What we can do is be alert to how we can avoid impacting on existing wildlife or, at the very least, minimise our impact. Artificial feeding of birds is one example. It takes less time &  money to plant a couple of indigenous plants in the garden than it does to put up a bird feeder & fill it with Home Brand bird seed but the result for the birds is likely to be far superior if the former strategy is used. Taking home human food scraps from the bush rather than feeding them to the birds is another.

Sadly, humans are humungously hubristic. We see ourselves as far superior to any other species rather than seeing ourselves as part of an amazing ecology. Therefore, when we feed crap to birds we're either saying that our food is best for them or we can't be bothered taking the food scraps home or that the birds are there for our entertainment. Personally, I have real problems with those stances.

Araminta
Araminta's picture

Just this morning at the local train station, I saw a girl through some bread on the ground. It only took a few seconds before this very sad event happened. Brakes my heart to see this again.

DSC00445 (2)

M-L

darinnightowl
darinnightowl's picture

Hi Woko 

Just for the record I don't put out seed or food scraps for birds anyway.

I was reading some old posts and  just wanted to stir the pot and see if I could flush out any Noisy Minors, they always fly in and check out any disturbance in their area and usually mob the intruder .

 And thanks narly for the back up , I was only supporting you!

Anyway  Woko, an old book that i think is a good read "The New Nature" Winners and Losers in Wild Australia byTim Low   
 
By reading your posts sounds like you read  a lot on the ecosystem .

See it!  Hear it!

Mid-North Coast NSW

Araminta
Araminta's picture

Owen1 wrote:

What the hell is he eating surprise sooner him than me!

Owen, it looked like something that had been eaten before, but came back and got run over by 10 cars.

M-L

Woko
Woko's picture

Thanks for the reminder about the book by Tim Low, Nightowl. I was aware of it & I've put it on my to buy list.

Yes, I've done some reading on ecology & I've made a lot of observations, too. Of course, we all see the world through our own eyes & values so I'm sure there are plenty of posters who wouldn't share my views. I'm all for respectful discussion & debate about the issues.

Araminta, I share your dismay at the red wattlebird in the role of scavenger of cast off human food. The other thing I resent is that the wattlebird got to it before I did.

Araminta
Araminta's picture

HaHa Woko, had no idea you liked, (what my son calls) "Pavement-Pizza"

M-L

Woko
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Sometimes necessity is the mother of intervention, Araminta.

darinnightowl
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Good words Woko and I am the same as you in a lot of ways. But not in words you have got me there .
Thanks Nightowl

See it!  Hear it!

Mid-North Coast NSW

Karen
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I love friendly debates spiked with truth and humour.  I don't really have much to add except that I am walking (just barely) proof of what our diet of carbohydrates and sugars has done to us.  Now bread is pure poison to my system.  So I don't like seeing birds eat our castoffs for fear of what it does to them.  And they can't complain about their sore tummies, they just suffer.  I think its good to discuss this openly.

Karen
Brisbane southside.

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