Preserving Native Birds – a yellow-tailed black cockatoo in a pine tree
Did you know that wild birds transmit real culture to their babies? They teach their babies how to look for food and which plants or insects are good to eat.
These cultural details are passed down over thousands of generations much as we pass on our culture to our kids.
So wild birds are reluctant to try new foods such as our imported garden plants or weeds that we have introduced. But as our domination of the land spreads, less and less of the native foods that birds recognize remain there for them to eat.
Slowly, native birds are beginning to feed on our newly introduced plants like privet, lantana, sasanqua camellias, fruit trees, pine trees, etc.
In Centennial Park in Sydney, someone planted foreign radiata pine trees which now feed hundreds of yellow tailed black cockies in the heart of Sydney.
But don’t forget to help native birds along by putting seed dishes and nectar or fruit out for them. This gives them time to culturally adapt. Planting grevilleas, banksias and bottlebrush helps a lot too.
Please help our native birds.
Hooroo! Don
