Decided to pay a visit to a botanic garden not far from where I live as I never had the chance to see it. I was looking forward to seeing what birds I could see, what a big disappointment it turned out to be. When I got there I was glad to see so many different types of native trees and being situated near a river, that's more like a creek, I thought that the bird population would've been a varied one, but no chance. All I saw and heard were large predatory birds with the ubiquitous noisy miners in charge as always. They were after a small group of superb fairy wrens that hid in some dense exotic weeds that had invaded the river/creek bank. Even worse was the colour of the water, a terrible sickly green, this water was also pumped into the artificial ponds around the botanic garden where geese and both native and introduced ducks swum. The ponds were full of introduced koi carps therefore no chance for frogs native to the area to establish themselves. The disappointment didn't end there unfortunately in that though there were lots of beautiful large established trees especially in the artificial native temperate forest, full of a stunning variety of gum trees, it was sadly very silent with no small birds in the tall canopy calling, no bell miners, no white plumed honeyeaters, no pardalotes, no peaceful doves calling, no parrots large or small, I guess no tree hollows no birds. By this time I started feeling very strange, I felt like I was walking through a dead zone, a horrible feeling of emptiness overwhelmed me, the trees looked sad to me now, I had to get out of there as quickly as possible. An absolute waste of time and an experience I hope to never repeat.
Sadly, there are many locations of this ilk across our great nation. Doublebar, what would you recommend to the directors of the botanic garden if they asked you for an assessment?
That's interesting. I wonder how much the poor condition is due to lack of care or lack of support/funds. The gardens I frequent (see link) are over 100 hectares and there's a lot of natural bushland with walks, but there are also "kept" areas where lawns are mown and shelters provided for visitors to picnic. A small army of volunteers do a good job keeping everything native and endemic but there is a contrast between the kept and unkept areas. The kept areas have noisy miners and opportunistic kookaburras that swoop tables for food (people won't obey no feeding signs), whereas the birdlife in the bush areas seems more diversified. On the other hand there is probably a wider diversity of native flora in the kept areas because of the constant planting of flowering shrubs and general garden care. Maybe a poorly planned/maintained garden is better than no garden at all?
http://www.buderim.com/maroochy-botanical-gardens
Botanic gardens are human spaces open to the public, the presence of a lot of people will deter many small native birds, maybe in the mornings and evenings when the visitors leave there are more birds. I am sure they are capable of learning the daily routines. A botanic garden should be judged by it's scientific interest and the depth and breadth of the variety of plant species on display. It should be attractive to people because that shows the skill of the gardeners who work there, but really that is a secondary consideration.
i'd rather a below-average botanic gardens than an industrial estate.. i think the birds would agree.
Doublebar - sad to hear the state of your local gardens, do they have a 'friends of the Gardens' group that you could join and help to improve the gardens?
Night Parrot - I visited your local gardens maybe 3 years ago and was impressed with what I saw then; I should try to get back again this year and see if it has further improved
Peter
Night parrot, I didn't realise you were a Qlder.
I was at those gardens yesterday, and they are very different to a large number of city botanic gardens - much more bushland (as the name suggests) rather than parkland and home to a good variety of birds.
Cheers
Tim
Brisbane
Yes timmo it is a bit different. The walks are good; early in the morning and in winter are good times when its not too warm. The gardens are a little bit like the National Botanic Gardens in Canberra but less frequented, at least on the longer walks.
What is the name of these Gardens?
Shorty......Canon gear
Canberra
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rawshorty/
They have the rather cumbersome (but descriptive) name of Maroochy Regional Bushland Botanic Gardens.
Cheers
Tim
Brisbane
See link above Shorty.
Sorry guys, i was refering to Doublebar's post.
Shorty......Canon gear
Canberra
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rawshorty/
Where was this Doublebar?
Samford Valley Qld.