Background: i do a small amount up supliment feeding, table scraps and off fruit/veg
i know as a general rule that indian mynah/spotted doves/blackbirds usualy push out the native species. seem that my garden is the UN!
the top dog is magpie> noisy miner> spotted dove>indian mynah> blackbird ! and 2 sightings of currawong, crested pigeon and grey butcherbird. the cat runs a distant last is this race. is any of this normal? im in suburban melbourne
Hi birdywatcher. It's quite wonderful that in the midst of all those introduced animals you have managed to see three native species.
The most likely reason for the dearth of native birds is that you & your neighbors have gardens with introduced plants which provide little or no habitat for native birds. The trees & shrubs in your neck of suburban Melbourne are more likely than not to favour domination by introduced birds & insects.
No, this is far from normal. For millions of years Australia's native vegetation & wildlife have evolved together to provide an incredibly complex & beautiful web of biodiversity. The advent of people who have severely altered the natural Australian environment has created quite an abnormal situation, one that we're yet to even begin to understand the tragedy of.
Also "the cat runs a distant last" is probably nonsense. Cats look cute and adorable and fluffy and couldn't hurt a fly but they are *actually* unstoppable killers - all of them.
soakes
Olinda, Victoria, Australia
you been in my garden? no? then shut up about what i allow my pets to do and dont bring your anti cat hate into my thread.. but anyways..
i asked a guenine question as to why my gardens native birds arent chased off by the introduced species and get ^^
no wonder why ive been a member for 4 years and never posted
I don't hate cats.
...and the answer to your question is "yes and no".
...and if you let your cat outside for any length of time, it *does* kill wildlife, whether you see it or not.
soakes
Olinda, Victoria, Australia
so true, my cat kills heaps of stuff while it runs under its favourite tree, goes to the loo and comes back. all while i am watching. the magpie in my garden, on the lawn, likes to watch its progress while the noisy miners bomb it. but anyways... the same magpie dives in on clusters of spotted doves for what i can only call sport.it ignores them if they are spread out. are my birds weird?
Birdwatcher, I wonder if the Magpie is being efficiently territorial by trying to scare off a number of birds with one swoop. In their activities wild animals do strive to conserve energy - if that's not a contradiction.
i did think that but the magpies are juvelines, and i think not setting up a terrritory yet? i can understant an adult clearing an area, but not a juvenile.maybe it is practicing?
i saw your opening post to me, you talked on and on about introduced species when i actualt\y asked about the dominanance of native species.
Hi birdywatcher. I'm interested to learn what you've observed about the Magpies & Noisy Miners that makes them the dominant species. E.g., do they take up feeding & breeding spaces to the exclusion or near-exclusion of introduced species? Or are Magpies & Noisy Miner numbers greater than those of introduced species? Or are the Magpies & Noisy Miners more aggressive & ward off introduced species at various times?
Soakes I am agreed on that point.
I'll just share the heairarchy I have noticed in my area, for you to compare your own against. From the top: Sulfur crested cockatoos > corellas > galahs > rainbow lorikeets > eastern rosellas > peaceful doves. Introduced birds don't get much of a look-in around here. Indian miners are around in large population numbers, but they certainly at the bottom of the food chain!
Unfortunately, in the past 30 years in this area I have witnessed an almost complete disappearance of sparrows, and a very large over population of rainbow lorikeets. Unfortunately also, I feel like we have far fewer eastern rosellas around in recent years.
I also have a new family of satin bower birds in my backyard and a hungry neighbouring cat ...
Magpies are definitely the bosses at my place, at least they think they are. I have seen them chase away a flock of sulfur crested cockatoos. Currawongs keep a low profile but are always looking for an opportunity to sneak in and grab a feed. Of the small birds yellow faced honeyeaters and white plumed honeyeaters are in charge, but shrike thrushes don't get bossed around. Crimson rosellas and white winged choughs just mind their own business but fight among themselves. Magpies and crows really hate each other but don't interact very often. When they do you see a real barny.
In bush areas exotic birds don't have so much influence, they are more of a problem in urban and semi urban areas where the landscape favours them.