Hi, over the last week or so, most mornings and evenings, this bird has come to our kitchen window and pecked at the glass.
It is very cute and we want to know how we can help him stay around :)
Can anyone help identify him for us? Yellow greenish body/wings, only about 10cm tall and white ringed eyes.. Picture attached.
Thanks in advance!
Silvereye
Thanks! Seems so obvious now! I'll put some fruit out :)
Hold the fruit, Matty. The most helpful thing you can do (if you haven’t already done it) is restore in your garden & neighbourhood the indigenous plants which once grew there. They provide Silvereyes’ natural food. After all, that’s what Silvereyes have evolved with over millions of years. Besides, by planting indigenous vegetation you’ll also attract a range of other cute Australian birds.
If you already have lots of indigenous vegetation you don’t have to do anything. Silvereyes will naturally come to your house.
The dangers of providing what we humans think is good tucker for birds are that
* it may cause problems for the birds having the wrong diet & make them sick or even kill them
* it will probably take the birds away from performing their natural functions in the ecology. E.g., Lorikeets using human-appropriate food will reduce the time they spend pollinating Eucalypts.
* some people are concerned that birds will become dependent on human-appropriate food. If the humans leave or go on holidays what do the birds feed on if they don’t have natural food?
While Silvereyes certainly like stone fruit (in fact, they’re an orchard pest in some places), natural tucker suits them just fine.