Either Sunday or Monday morning just gone a pair of Scarlet Robins were spotted on our front fence next to the small grevillea, and in the garden by my neighbour. He knows about bird species. The two birds flew onto the fence and just sat there. As the female stayed put the male took off toward the southern driveway to check out the biggest grevillea which was in flower. When he came back to where the female was they both flew away together in a north west direction.
I have been in these flats since March 1999 and have never seen or heard Scarlet Robins but the very next day I did hear a bird call I hadn't heard before. It was a small bird call. The birds have not been seen since.
The sighting lasted for no more than 2 minutes. The birds were obviously passing through heading north.
Scarlet robins tend to move to more open areas in winter and favour forested areas in summer so you are more likely to see them near a house in winter. I don't think they migrate but they move around an area over the year and of course young ones will seek new territories.
Nice observation, Shirley.
That may be true GregL in general but Scarlet Robins are not local to the area of Tenterfield itself. The bird life that used to inhabit town, for the most part, never came back. When the rain stopped they left. They moved on and stayed moved on. The species that are still here are toughening it out and even the Australian Magpie numbers are becoming scarcer.
I went for a 2 hour non-stop walk around town recently just to see what bird life vs plant life was still in the area. I was shocked to see barely any birds at all. All the birds I saw were Australian Magpies (3-4); Magpie Larks (2); Crested Pigeons (2); Torresian Crows (about 6); Australian White Ibis (1); Little Corella (or Sulphur-crested Cockatoo) (1); a honeyeater I think (1); and heard about 3-4 small birds in a tree. That was all I saw. The vegetation was mostly non-native. I saw several bottlebrushes in 2 people's gardens. There were a lot of bushes with orange berries on them (3-4 different species) and the same amount of species of Pine trees. I only saw one Acacia shrub or tree. Most people had lawn edged with a small garden strip with very little plant life in it. Only a few gardens had gum trees in them. And this was just in a small portion of town including a part of the main street.
What I've got growing in my garden puts everyone else's garden to shame. And it still has lawn.
I'm at Tenterfield, NSW. (Formerly known as "Hyperbirds".)
I don't think you should be so hard on the townsfolk of Tenterfield, I'm sure it is no worse than anywhere else.Your experience is common to most urbanised people these days. Many people can no longer see the night sky-
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/jun/10/milky-way-no-longer-visible-to-one-third-of-humanity-light-pollution
With all the light pollution, noise pollution, smog,concrete etc it is no surprise that most animals can't survive in an urban environment. If we want to make our communities more "eco-friendly" we have to change the way we live,and most people aren't willing to make that change.
I wasn't being hard nor judgemental of the local people Greg. I was just describing what I saw and boasting about my own garden. It'd just be nice to see something native growing in people's front gardens other than non-indigenious plants. In this town it's not a matter of making a change, it's simply a matter of buying a few plants, digging a few holes in the ground and keeping them watered until they get established. How hard is that? Any twat can do that. I'm just sick of people not doing anything.
You don't have to change the way you live in order to make the place more eco-friendly. Unless one plans on going full on hippy, then that's another story. Besides, most people don't have the means to do that anyway. Reducing pollution is an option by walking to the shops instead of driving there, that's if the shops are within walking distance.
The thing is, Greg, with the climate changing so dramatically these days getting plants to adapt is often too much hard work for people. As I've learnt you need lots of patience. Patience and time. A lot of people around here just probably don't have the time to make a native garden, or even plant just a few plants. The ones that do have a garden have an already established garden. Their gardens lack inspiration and layering to create depth and multi-height plants that's all.
I'm at Tenterfield, NSW. (Formerly known as "Hyperbirds".)
A lot of people in Tenterfield don't have time to create a native garden? And yet I'm confident they have the time to create an introduced garden which they have to water & fertilize. Many probably have time to sweep up introduced leaves in autumn & burn them, too.
I once knew a woman who told me she didn't have the space for a native garden so she planted an introduced one.
Ah, well.
From what I've seen and know as an introduced local the people who do have gardens of some sort are older people than me, and I'm 50. Their gardens are already established. Younger people are either renting the places where they live or coexist with the already established gardens on the property, or have kids and have no time for gardening.
There's actually a few houses that have been abandoned in town and had an established garden but is overgrown. I think some people have been ransacking the garden plants (small ones) in one house property in particular, to put in their own garden as there are a lot of ferns missing from the front footpath area of the garden.
There has actually been a reduction of people burning off in town and even people using wood heaters to keep themselves warm during the night/day. The council only cleans up leaves from certain areas in town but most of the fallen leaves remain undisturbed or just mowed by the council several times a year.
I'm at Tenterfield, NSW. (Formerly known as "Hyperbirds".)