My bird theme happening is that I saw a family of noisy miners and a magpie using the bird bath. Noisy miners have unfortunately set up camp in the surrounding trees and are monopolising the bird bath, but at least if they are here, then the bird baths in other peoples yards are free of harassment for other bird species.
That’s a common issue with those sorts of birds and any really good resources, they try to keep them for themselves and drive everyone else away. If you want to provide for the smaller birds too you need to have smaller bird baths and flowering plants that provide some nectar but not too much - anything too good the big aggressive birds bully them away from. That’s one of the main things I’ve learned so far from by Backyard Biodiversity subject.
I have mixed feelings on the miners because they are natives and it’s just their nature, but it’s a unnatural balance because of the suburban garden habitats. The magpies don’t seem too deterred, even though they get harassed at times too. I don’t have a huge amount of space but maybe I’ll look into some summer flowering plants and put a second bird bath elsewhere.
That’s what happened in my back yard too. I set up a birdbath and within a disappointingly short space of time, I’m talking about an hour, I had those Indian Myna birds bullying away all the birds I sought to attract. Not wanting those pests to set up camp, I relocated it to the side way where it is now a very shallow bee drinking station (too much human activity in close proximity for birds so they don’t use it).
My bird theme happening is that I saw a family of noisy miners and a magpie using the bird bath. Noisy miners have unfortunately set up camp in the surrounding trees and are monopolising the bird bath, but at least if they are here, then the bird baths in other peoples yards are free of harassment for other bird species.
That’s a common issue with those sorts of birds and any really good resources, they try to keep them for themselves and drive everyone else away. If you want to provide for the smaller birds too you need to have smaller bird baths and flowering plants that provide some nectar but not too much - anything too good the big aggressive birds bully them away from. That’s one of the main things I’ve learned so far from by Backyard Biodiversity subject.
I have mixed feelings on the miners because they are natives and it’s just their nature, but it’s a unnatural balance because of the suburban garden habitats. The magpies don’t seem too deterred, even though they get harassed at times too. I don’t have a huge amount of space but maybe I’ll look into some summer flowering plants and put a second bird bath elsewhere.
That’s what happened in my back yard too. I set up a birdbath and within a disappointingly short space of time, I’m talking about an hour, I had those Indian Myna birds bullying away all the birds I sought to attract. Not wanting those pests to set up camp, I relocated it to the side way where it is now a very shallow bee drinking station (too much human activity in close proximity for birds so they don’t use it).