Things to do Exploring Australia

Australian birds

Birds that I see the most: Cockatoo (sulphur crested); Kookaburra; Rainbow lorikeets; Magpie (alternatively called “oh fuck, run!!”); Crow; Eagle (wedge-tailed); Black swan; Magpie-lark (peewee); Masked Lapwing (better known as “bloody plovers”); Pelicans; New Holland honeyeater; Ibis (Bin-Chickens); Brush-turkey; Finches; and the Willy wagtail. Where I am currently living (North Burnett) there are a lot of Apostlebirds and the Grey-crowned babbler.

 

I am not a bird person. To me, birds are really pretty, and I occasionally notice their beauty, funny ways, songs, etc; but overall, they are noisy and messy, and I prefer dogs. Growing up my mum kept canaries; she loved their singing.

 

I grew up in Sydney where the magpie is very well known. I, like most older Australians that have lived here their whole life, suffer PTSD from the Australian Magpie and the relentless attacks suffered as a child. I remember being stuck under a slippery dip for ages trying hard to push my body against the hot metal in an awkward direction to try and not get to struck by one particularly angry (protective) bird. We didn’t have bicycle helmets back then, we had ice-cream buckets! 

After moving to Queensland to raise my children, I discovered the Plover, an almost equally fierce attack bird, although it doesn’t really stand up against the attack of a magpie.

 

These are the two birds I feel need further information. I have written a post on the cassowary and the emu, and the ibis featured a mention in the cane toad post.

Magpies

Peta Australia wrote this article:

Why Do Magpies Swoop?

Magpies typically nest for around six weeks between August and October, when the father is responsible for defending his babies by chasing away any animal he considers a threat – including humans – within 50 metres of the nest.

Only around 10% of breeding males swoop humans, and most don’t actually come close to making physical contact. The majority of reported human injuries occur indirectly, such as when someone crashes their bike after being startled by a swooping magpie.

Some magpies see humans as a threat – and for good reason. From hitting them with cars and felling the trees they call home to leaving out poison for “pests”, humans cause infinitely more harm to birds than vice versa.

How Can I Avoid Being Swooped?


DO


  • Take the road less travelled. If your usual route takes you near a magpie’s nesting area, the best way to avoid being swooped is simply to change your route for those six weeks.
  • Cover up. Protect your face and head by wearing sunglasses and a broad-brimmed hat. You could hold an open umbrella above your head, but don’t attempt to swat a magpie with it if he swoops.
  • Stay calm, and keep moving. Some magpies are more likely to swoop pedestrians, others cyclists, and some don’t discriminate at all based on your mode of transport. However, if you feel more stable on two legs rather than two wheels, dismounting your bike may be a good idea.
  • Put up signs to warn others. By advising other residents to avoid the area, you help spare both humans and magpies a great deal of stress.

DON’T


  • Wave your arms, shout, or otherwise act aggressively. This will only reinforce the magpie’s impression that you’re a threat.
  • Offer food. Feeding a magpie will help you only temporarily and can have all kinds of long-term consequences for the bird, including dependence and disease.
  • Attempt to relocate the nest. Magpies are a protected species, and it’s against the law to kill them, relocate them, destroy their nests, or collect their eggs. They usually mate for life, and moving them can disrupt their family life. In any case, after they’ve been removed and released elsewhere, they usually return within a few days or weeks.
  • Approach a baby magpie on the ground. He or she is likely just learning to fly, and the parents are usually close by, keeping an eye on the situation. If the chick seems to be injured or truly in danger, follow these steps for helping wildlife.

Friends, Not Foe

Despite their protective behaviour, magpies can be astoundingly curious and friendly. And according to University of New England Emeritus Professor of Animal Behaviour Gisela Kaplan, more than 80% of breeding magpies nest near houses, meaning that only a very small proportion of those living close to humans are actually involved in swooping incidents.

Magpies can live between 25 and 30 years and are territorial, tending to stay in the same area for almost their whole lives. They can learn to recognise the faces of humans and may choose not to swoop those they like.

Magpies value their lives and families just as much as we do, and we should learn to appreciate them for the wonderful, protective parents they are.


Retrieved 26 may 2024, from, https://www.peta.org.au/issues/wildlife/magpie-swoop/.

More on Magpies

Australian Magpies are protected as are all native species and they belong to the same family as Butcherbirds and Currawongs. They are found in areas where there are trees (used for shelter, nesting and roosting) and bare or grassy areas in which to feed.

Magpies forage on the ground, turning over loose material, as they search for a range of insects, worms, spiders, lizards, mice and seeds. A favourite food is the scarab beetle which does so much damage to lawns.

Magpies live in territorial groups. At the top of the social structure is the permanent territorial group, large enough to defend its territory without depleting resources. There are also marginal groups whose territories are lower in quality and may not contain enough year round food or suitable nesting or roosting trees. On the bottom rung are loose non-territorial flocks made up of immature birds, displaced adults or older birds.

Appearance

The adult Australian magpie ranges from 37 to 43 cm in length, with distinctive black and white feather and gold brown eyes. With its long legs, the Australian magpie walks easily and spends a lot of time on the ground.

Breeding

Nesting time is June to December. The nests are a basket of sticks and stems lined with wool, hair, grass and often bits of plastic, string and wire. It takes about 20 days for the eggs to hatch and the young spend 4 weeks in the nest before they fledge, able only to flutter and not fly. As the juveniles get older their hunting skills improve and the adults become reluctant to feed them. It is at this time you may see the parents pecking them when they make begging calls.

Swooping Magpies

For a few weeks each year during breeding season, nesting Magpies defend their territory to protect their young.

They beat their wings, clack their beaks, swoop upon perceived intruders and occasionally peck or scratch with their claws. This defence of territory only lasts for the time when eggs and young are in the nest. For this reason swooping birds should never be removed from the area as; eggs will fail to hatch or the young will die of starvation and exposure without their parents, if the territory is vacated other magpies from less suitable areas will claim it and build a new nest of their own and if only the nest is removed, the birds will build another one in the same area. To protect people for the short breeding season please;

  • Try to avoid the area where the magpies are swooping and make a temporary sign to inform other people.
  • Wear a hat while in the area or carry an open umbrella, which is the best protection.
  • Do not stop if you are swooped upon. You are still in the magpie’s territory so they will keep swooping.
  • Where possible travel in a group as most birds only swoop individuals.
  • Cyclists should dismount and walk through the area.
  • Walk quickly until you are out of the area and remember their behaviour will stop as soon as their chicks are safely out of the nest.

Rescuing Magpies

If you find a sick, injured or orphaned magpie please call WIRES Rescue Office 1 300 094 737 or fill in the Rescue Form. If the magpie is sick or injured it will need to see a vet before coming into care, if you are able to safely contain it, you can keep it in a quiet, dark, warm place e.g. wrapped in a towel in a ventilated box or carrier with a lid while you transport it to the nearest vet. If you let WIRES know which vet you’ve taken the bird to, we will follow up with the vet directly to bring them into care after they have been vet assessed and received any necessary treatment.

Note: Baby magpies leave the nest without being able to fly properly. For the first week or so they will just be able to flutter and rely on their parents for protection and food. Day by day their skills at flying and feeding will improve. If you see a baby magpie sitting on your lawn don’t rush out and grab it. Keep pets and people away and watch carefully to see if parents are in attendance. If the parents are attending to it and the chick is in no immediate danger, it should be left with its parents. For more information, please read our birds page.

 

This article was taken from WIRES, retrieved 26 May 2024, from:

https://www.wires.org.au/wildlife-information/magpies

Plover

Plovers (Masked Lapwings) are medium to large birds. They have long reddish legs and large yellow facial wattles. They inhabit virtually the whole of Australia and are commonly found on the shores of swamps and lakes. They commonly inhabit large grassy areas, particularly those areas cleared for pasture or parkland.

Plovers usually lay their eggs after local rains. They lay up to four eggs on the ground in a small depression in open areas so they can see their predators. However, these birds have now come to accept flat roofs as a suitable nesting site, as they are generally safe from humans and predation.

The eggs will hatch in about 28 days. Plovers have spurs on their wings however despite common belief, these are not poisonous.

Leaving the nest

Unlike many other dependent bird chicks, Masked Lapwing chicks have a full covering of down and are able to leave the nest and feed themselves a few hours after hatching. Parents provide protection, direction and warmth. In urban environments plovers may lay their eggs on roof tops for safety. In most cases, the chicks will be able to jump down safely from the roof. This is a natural process undertaken by many bird species, including some ducks who nest in tree hollows, and the chicks are remarkably resilient to the long fall but may require assistance if the distance is too great.

In some circumstances, the chicks may not be able to jump and may require assistance to reach the ground. However, interference with chicks should only occur on an absolute necessity basis. It is possible to reunite chicks with their parents at ground level in these situations, call WIRES 1300 094 737 for advice.

Swooping and screeching

Plovers are very protective of their nests and chicks. This is particularly the case after the chicks have hatched. Adults may dive on intruders, use loud noises and swooping or act as though they have a broken wing in an attempt to lure the intruder away from the nest. This behaviour is mostly bluff and actual contact attacks are rare. Regardless, it is this fearlessly protective nature that brings them into conflict with people.

What you can do

  • It is important to remember that plover swooping only occurs for a short period of time. Once the chicks have fledged (i.e. are able to fly), the level of protection will significantly decrease.
  • If you have plovers swooping in your area, try to avoid the nesting area and do not antagonise the birds.
  • If you cannot avoid the area, try not to walk directly towards the birds or make eye contact with them.
  • Wearing a large hat or bike helmet when in their vicinity can also help.
  • If the nest site is simply in a vulnerable position, a protective fence/table/chair can be placed over the nest site so that the birds can come and go safely until the chicks are hatched.
  • If the problem cannot be avoided or solved, or if you are unsure, call WIRES for advice 1300 094 737.

Why WIRES does not advise removing eggs or nests

Attempts have been made in the past to relocate the eggs and nests to a more suitable location – the parent birds rarely follow, resulting in abandonment. Total relocation will need to be done correctly and carefully on a case-by-case basis by WIRES or NPWS. Relocation or removal of native eggs/nests requires a NPWS permit.

Although it is possible for experienced WIRES members to incubate the eggs, this requires specialised equipment and training. There are also many serious ethical and ecological considerations associated with hatching and raising chicks intended for release into the wild outside of their natural learning environment.


This articles was taken from WIRES, retrieved 26 May 2024:

https://www.wires.org.au/wildlife-information/plovers

Bird and bat banding

The Australian Bird and Bat Banding Scheme (ABBBS) commenced in 1953. It coordinates and facilitates bird and bat banding related research. They centrally manage and collate all data for banding projects conducted in Australia. The ABBBS dataset consists of more than 4.4 million records and contains information on all studied species including threatened and migratory species. The data held by the ABBBS can be made available upon request.

Information that is held by the ABBBS is valuable in helping to understand Australian birds and bats and their protection, where applicable, under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act).

 

Why band birds and bats?

The next time you see a bird, ask yourself these questions:

  • How many of that type of bird are there?
  • Where does it live?
  • Does it mate for life?
  • How old is it and how long might it live?
  • How many eggs will it lay during its life? (if it is female!)
  • Does it fly far away from here?
  • Where will it go?
  • Where does it feed?

The answers to these questions are important to conserving our native birds, and the places where they live. Researchers who look for those answers often need to be able to recognise individual birds or groups of birds. One way is to attach bands or tags to the birds.

Researchers who use bands to study birds are called ‘banders’ . The Australian Bird and Bat Banding Scheme (ABBBS) helps this research by supplying numbered metal bands to banders. These bands are usually fitted around the bird’s lower leg (or tarsus).

Each band is stamped with a different number and the ABBBS address. Since the banding scheme was started, over 2.6 million birds and bats have been banded and about 140,000 of these have been recaptured.

The role of the ABBBS is to:

Banding and recoveries

Like all research, a banding project starts with a question the bander wants to answer. The ABBBS can help banders decide how to collect the right information to answer their question. Bands are sent to the banders and their work begins. As time goes by, banders send the ABBBS information about where, when and what types of birds their bands were put on. The ABBBS records that information on computer. If one of those birds is caught again, the ABBBS can calculate the minimum distance it has travelled (of course, the bird may have travelled much further before being recaptured). The ABBBS then sends a letter to both the bander and the finder, telling them of the bird’s history. Most parts of Australia are sparsely populated, so in most cases banders recapture birds which they themselves have banded. But sometimes banders catch a bird with someone else’s band on it, and occasionally members of the public discover bands on injured or dead birds. When these recoveries are reported to the ABBBS, the information is passed on to the bander who banded the bird.

Do we have to use bands on birds and bats?

It is not always necessary to use bands to perform research on birds and bats. Sometimes there are other alternatives to using bands, including radio tracking and dyes. Occasionally it is not possible to use bands at all on some species, as the bands can irritate and injure the birds and bats. Some of the problems have become so serious that the ABBBS now restricts new banding projects that involve certain species of microbats. The details of this restriction are given below.

Moratorium on new microbat projects

In the process of revising the recommended band sizes for all Australian bat species we have found that the bands used on a number of Microchiropteran species are causing high rates of band injury. Based on these injury rates we are not prepared to approve any new permits for the banding of Microchiropteran bats and are, in fact, considering a moratorium on the banding of all members of the families Vespertilionidae, Emballonuridae and Molossidae.

For a number of species we have firm data indicating that serious band injury rates exceed 5%. We have little data on injury rates for other species but, based on information available on related species, we believe we should apply the ‘precautionary principle’ at this stage.

We feel that in the interests of bat welfare it would not be appropriate for us to continue allowing the use of bands on susceptible species. We are currently investigating some alternative methods of marking bats, including the use of Passive Induction Transponders (PITs).

We appreciate that this decision may significantly affect some research proposals and regret that we have had to make such a decision. We would be happy to consider any modifications to existing marking and banding techniques which might permit us to reconsider the situation. If anyone can suggest alternative methods of marking microchiropteran bats we would be happy to hear from you.

 

EPBC Act lists

See what species are threatened or migratory in Australia:

Learn more about threats to these species by reading about Key threatening processes

 

Avian influenza (bird flu)

The Australian Government Department of Health and Aging has released guidelines for persons working with poultry and other birds at risk of highly pathogenic avian influenza.

Contact us

Email

abbbs@dcceew.gov.au

 

Reference

This information was taken from the following page:

Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, 2021. About Banding. Retrieved 26 May 2024, from, https://www.dcceew.gov.au/science-research/bird-bat-banding/about-banding.

 

Rescue advice and assistance

To access 24/7 rescue advice and assistance for sick, injured and orphaned native animals call 1300 094 737, or fill in the online rescue form.

Australia’s largest wildlife rescue organisation, 2023. Wires.

 

Where can i find more information?

To find more details on Australian birds, please visit https://birdlife.org.au/bird-profiles/.

For more information regarding Queensland Wetlands and Birds please visit https://wetlandinfo.des.qld.gov.au/wetlands/facts-maps/. From here, you can break it down into various subsections including, but not limited to, local government areas, Ramsar wetlands, National parks, etc.

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