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Page Last Updated:
Wednesday, 20 March 2013
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Home>Council Services>Environment>Gardens for Wildlife (G4W)>Living with Wildlife in Knox!>Birds
Birds not only bring colour and song to a wildlife garden, they serve a vital role in pollinating and dispersing the seeds of many plants.
There are many varieties of birds found in Knox with all having different feeding and habitat requirements. These include (but are not limited to) Owls, Parrots, Finches, Robins and Wrens, Kingfishers, Thornbills, Currawongs, Magpies and many, many more.
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| Attracting birds to your backyard | | The best way to attract birds is to prepare a diverse and multi-storied garden, where several layers of vegetation are featured.
The ground level may be called the 'litter level' and features leaves, bark, rocks, logs and branches. The litter level provides shelter and food.
The second storey comprises ground flora such as native grasses, heaths, lillies and creepers. Examples of suitable plants include poa grasses, goodenias, bush peas, mat rush and daisies.
The third level, the 'under-storey', features a range of shrubs such as correas, hakeas and cassinias. The highest level of a wildlife garden is the upperstorey. It includes tall trees such as eucalypts, acacias, sheoaks and malaleucas.
All honeyeaters and Lorikeets have long brush tipped tongues to lick nectar from inside a flower. Learn more about to attract these birds to your garden.
Do not place bird feeders in gardens. Feeding stations make birds dependent on people and if for any reason you are suddenly unable to feed them for a few days, some may die. Bird feeders also provide foxes and cats with easy meals. Supplementary feeding increases the numbers of any single species in the garden (including feral birds such as the Indian Myna), but does not necessarily increase the variety of different birds you will see.
Planting a mixture of trees, shrubs and ground covers is far more beneficial to birds than a bare lawn with one specimen tree and a feeding tray. Birds don’t need artificial nectar feeders – there are many nectar-bearing shrubs available. Artificial nectar feeders attract honeybees and wasps, can ferment in warm weather making birds ill, can be taken over by aggressive birds and can make birds ill and unhealthy if they only eat nectar and not a mix of food groups.
Birdbaths are a great addition to any wildlife garden and will encourage birds to visit all year round. Place birdbaths near a dense, perhaps prickly bush where the birds can hide quickly from predators such as cats and hawks.
For tips on how to attract birds to your garden and how to keep them coming back, why not visit the Sustainable Gardening Australia website.
Click on the link at the bottom of this page to few the Southern Dandenongs Community Nursery factsheet: Attract Native Birds.
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| Night Birds - Owls, Nightjars and Frogmouths | | Owls, Nightjars and Frogmouths are often confused with one another. Frogmouths are often thought to be owls, but are in fact related to Nightjars.
The most common Owls found in Knox are the Southern Boobook and the Barn Owl. The Powerful Owl also resides in Knox but is now on the threatened species list. The Southern Boobook Owl is a medium sized bird (25-35cm) and resides in forests and woodlands, particularly dry forests, and roosts in dense foliage. The Barn Owl is also a medium sized bird (34-35cm) but prefers open grasslands and farmlands. The Powerful Owl is the largest owl (55-65cm) in Australasia and is found in open forests and woodlands, as well as along sheltered gullies in wet forests with dense under-storeys, especially along watercourses. The Owl will sometimes be found in open areas near forests such as farmland, parks and suburban areas, as well as in remnant bushland patches. The Powerful Owl needs old growth trees to nest.
The Australian Owlet-nightjar is the smallest and one of the most common and widespread of Australia's nocturnal birds. It's preferred habitat is almost any tree-studded area where there are suitable hollows, although open areas are also visited. During the day it roosts in hollow branches and tree trunks. The birds form permanent bonds, and pairs occupy the same territory throughout the year. Owlet-nightjars feed at night on a variety of insects. Birds will readily take flying prey, or will pounce on prey either on the ground or in trees. Hunting takes place within a territory and normally in pairs. The Owlet-nightjars watch for food while in flight, or by sitting and searching from a suitable perch. Its large brown eyes are non-reflective when exposed to a torch or spotlight (other nocturnal birds give a red reflection).
The most common Frogmouth found in Knox is the Tawny Frogmouth. Whilst Owls fly around at night hunting food, Frogmouths generally remain sitting very still on a low perch and wait for food to come to them, sometimes dropping from their perch onto their prey on the ground. They catch their prey with their beaks, rather than with their talons, another way in which they are different from owls. The Tawny Frogmouth feeds on rats, mice, cicadas, beetles, frogs and other small prey. The Tawny Frogmouth's camouflage is excellent - staying very still and upright, they look just like part of the branch. They hunt at night and spend the day roosting on a dead log or tree branch close to the tree trunk.
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| Nest Boxes - Why they're so important | | Many birds rely on tree hollows for nesting sites. Hollow-bearing trees are old and well-established but their numbers are declining. In areas where there are no tree hollows, nest boxes provide reasonable alternatives. Different birds have particular requirements regarding the size, shape and orientation of their nest boxes. Learn more about nest boxes here. You will also find details on how to make your own nest boxes, how to maintain them and the specific requirements needed by different species.
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