"S. McLaren" wrote:

Hi,

I've got a pack of black birds who are rumaging thru my garden, digging up
my plants, mulch etc.. I want to kill them. They are a pest.

Can someone suggest a suitable poison? I tried feeding them rat poison but
it had no effect on the buggers. I roughly know where they like to dig. No
other birds would be harmed because I'll watch over the spot. Anyhow, the
black birds have driven out all the other birds except the big scary ravens.

Cheers!


This might sound silly, but why not try and trap them? The old
'cardboard box balanced on a stick with a string attached' trick works
pretty well for birds and I've caught pigeons in this way (they were
mine - it's a long story - but the trap worked and I got my livestock
back!)

Once you've got the birds in your hand, so to speak, you could relocate
them to a kindly owner - or to the cemetary, depending... While
blackbirds *are* BIS (Bloody Introduced Species), they do make excellent
pets, I'm told, being quite intelligent.

Shame someone with a conscience didn't do something about the first pair
of Indian Mynahs to darken our shores! The filthy things roost in a
camphor laurel just up the street from us and their noise is
*deafening*! Mind you, I've noticed a definite increase in Noisy Miner
numbers over the last few years. They seem to have finally acquired a
taste for introduced plants (eg Camellias) and gotten over their nerves.
Which is good.

Speaking of birds (and sorry to rave on for so long, but this has been
intriguing me): has anyone else noticed a *huge* decline in the smaller
birds of prey lately? I haven't seen a Brown Falcon in years, or even
many Black-Shouldered Kites to speak of! Nankeen Kestrels are still
around and there's a pair of Little Falcons hanging around where I live,
but that's all! Surely it can't *still* be DDT causing raptors to
decline?

--
Trish {|:-}
Newcastle, NSW, Australia

g'day trish,

i'd be looking to loss of habitat for the raptor decline.

len

snipped
--
happy gardening
'it works for me it could work for you,'

"in the end ya' gotta do what ya' gotta do" but consider others and the environment
http://hub.dataline.net.au/~gardnlen/

On Wed, 18 Dec 2002 03:35:56 +1000, len brauer
wrote:

g'day trish,

i'd be looking to loss of habitat for the raptor decline.

Almost certainly.

I have a black shouldered kite in the bush corridor behind my house.
It's amazing to watch it hovering on the off chance that a mouse may
stick its head out.

Unfortunately, that bush corridor is going to become first a
construction site and then a freeway in a year or so. Farewell birds.
I can provide habitat for the parrots, but not for a raptor.

Tara

Geodyne wrote:


I have a black shouldered kite in the bush corridor behind my house.
It's amazing to watch it hovering on the off chance that a mouse may
stick its head out.

Unfortunately, that bush corridor is going to become first a
construction site and then a freeway in a year or so. Farewell birds.
I can provide habitat for the parrots, but not for a raptor.

Tara


Exactly! Thses birds are going to find survival hard enough without
****wit gardners killing them off.


--
Compromise, conformity, assimilation, submission, hypocrisy, brutality,
the elite.... All of which are American dreams......

And lo, as foretold, on Wed, 18 Dec 2002 13:01:21 +1100, Dissent
did write, in letters of flame, :

Geodyne wrote:


I have a black shouldered kite in the bush corridor behind my house.
It's amazing to watch it hovering on the off chance that a mouse may
stick its head out.

Unfortunately, that bush corridor is going to become first a
construction site and then a freeway in a year or so. Farewell birds.
I can provide habitat for the parrots, but not for a raptor.

Tara


Exactly! Thses birds are going to find survival hard enough without
****wit gardners killing them off.

The original poster wasn't talking about killing off native birds,
they were talking about getting rid of introduced pests such as
blackbirds etc. The problem was the method of poisoning isn't such a
great idea.

Nothing makes me happier than seeing native birds in my garden. They
love my apple tree! Plenty for all.
Happy Gardening!

--
Tom Elliott
Remove `mapsitna` to email

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On Wed, 18 Dec 2002 04:21:58 GMT, (Tom Elliott)
wrote:

Unfortunately, that bush corridor is going to become first a
construction site and then a freeway in a year or so. Farewell birds.
I can provide habitat for the parrots, but not for a raptor.

Exactly! Thses birds are going to find survival hard enough without
****wit gardners killing them off.

The original poster wasn't talking about killing off native birds,
they were talking about getting rid of introduced pests such as
blackbirds etc. The problem was the method of poisoning isn't such a
great idea.

Absolutely. To clarify my position further, I feel quite upset that
I'm going to lose the pleasure of seeing the native birds when the
roadworks begin, while the number of rotten Indian Mynahs will
probably remain the same. IF the OP finds a suitable method of killing
the blackbirds, would they *please* let me know!

Nothing makes me happier than seeing native birds in my garden. They
love my apple tree! Plenty for all.

My secret plan: I hae a neighbourhood coalition. We're planting
bird-friendly native species behind our back fences as soon as we know
where the construction fence is going to be :-)

Happy gardening to all.
Tara

I have been successful in discouraging blackbirds from my garden through
dense planting of a prickly local native shrub (Bursaria spinosa) lots of
tufting grasses, some taller species such as Acacia implexa, and other low
growing herbs, and shrubs.

I am trying to recreate the bush that is local to me, but obviously it will
never be the same.

However, there has been a huge decrease in the number of indian mynahs,
Blackbirds and sparrows.

It has taken 2-4l years and the plants still are not fully grown, but my
patience is paying off!

The original poster mentioned that by poisoning the blackbirds no other
birds would be harmed, I beg to differ. IF the blackbirds die somewhere
other than your property, perhaps a bird of prey or carnivourous/omnivorous
creature might ingest said dead blackbird.... If enough poisoned animals are
ingested then the level of poison builds and can kill the consumer.

This issue is well known by all of you I imagine, and is as serious a threat
to the loss of birds of prey, and carnivorous mammals as habitat loss.

cheers

Susannah


"Geodyne" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 18 Dec 2002 04:21:58 GMT, (Tom Elliott)
wrote:

Unfortunately, that bush corridor is going to become first a
construction site and then a freeway in a year or so. Farewell birds.
I can provide habitat for the parrots, but not for a raptor.

Exactly! Thses birds are going to find survival hard enough without
****wit gardners killing them off.

The original poster wasn't talking about killing off native birds,
they were talking about getting rid of introduced pests such as
blackbirds etc. The problem was the method of poisoning isn't such a
great idea.

Absolutely. To clarify my position further, I feel quite upset that
I'm going to lose the pleasure of seeing the native birds when the
roadworks begin, while the number of rotten Indian Mynahs will
probably remain the same. IF the OP finds a suitable method of killing
the blackbirds, would they *please* let me know!

Nothing makes me happier than seeing native birds in my garden. They
love my apple tree! Plenty for all.

My secret plan: I hae a neighbourhood coalition. We're planting
bird-friendly native species behind our back fences as soon as we know
where the construction fence is going to be :-)

Happy gardening to all.
Tara

On Wed, 18 Dec 2002 19:12:30 +1100, "susannah"
wrote:

I have been successful in discouraging blackbirds from my garden through
dense planting of a prickly local native shrub (Bursaria spinosa) lots of
tufting grasses, some taller species such as Acacia implexa, and other low
growing herbs, and shrubs.

I am trying to recreate the bush that is local to me, but obviously it will
never be the same.

I'm pleased to hear that. I'm planning to do just that this autumn,
when the temperature drops and the rain (hopefully) comes.

The area I live in (NW Sydney) has one of the fastest growing
populations in the country, and I've given up my dream of self
sufficiency short term to try to make up for suburban blights taking
out bushland. At least on my 1/8 of an acre, anyway.

Tara

"susannah" wrote in message news:h2WL9.375

birds would be harmed, I beg to differ. IF the blackbirds die somewhere
other than your property, perhaps a bird of prey or
carnivourous/omnivorous
creature might ingest said dead blackbird.... If enough poisoned animals
are
ingested then the level of poison builds and can kill the consumer.

Apart from my brother-in-law and a family of foxes, I don't know of any
other meat eating animals in my area!

susannah wrote:

Where are you? urban sprawl, or other??

You might be surprised to find you have Antechinus living nearby. I am in
deepest Suburbia in Sydney, just near Parramatta, and we get Antechinus in
our yard quite often.

They turn their victims inside out and leave the skin. Quite a clever way
to eat something really

Not forgetting Bush Rats (Rattus fuscipes), they'll have a gnaw on anything
moving or still! lol


Now that you mention it, there's something that's had me befuddled for a
couple of years...

Once, the family and I were wandering along Nobby's Breakwater
(Newcastle, NSW). Right at the very end, among the tumbled rocks and
fishermen's litter, we spotted two enormous rats, each with half a white
tail! That is, the end half of each rat's tail was white. The rats were
dark brown to black and didn't have that 'Rodentia' look that the common
rat does: their snouts were much shorter and they seemed to have cheek
pouches. Anyway, I wondered at the time if they could possibly be
marsupial rats, but assumed they were just black rats who'd been
stirring whitewash with their tails.

Does anyone know what these rats might be?

--
Trish {|:-}
Newcastle, NSW, Australia

On Fri, 20 Dec 2002 01:48:35 +1100, Trish Brown
wrote:

Now that you mention it, there's something that's had me befuddled for a
couple of years...

Once, the family and I were wandering along Nobby's Breakwater
(Newcastle, NSW). Right at the very end, among the tumbled rocks and
fishermen's litter, we spotted two enormous rats, each with half a white
tail! That is, the end half of each rat's tail was white. The rats were
dark brown to black and didn't have that 'Rodentia' look that the common
rat does: their snouts were much shorter and they seemed to have cheek
pouches. Anyway, I wondered at the time if they could possibly be
marsupial rats, but assumed they were just black rats who'd been
stirring whitewash with their tails.


They sound like water rats, a native species. They have half white
tails and often frequent breakwaters. If they had short fur on their
tails, then that clinches it.

You've resurrected a long-forgotten menory for me. When I first
started studying at uni I was doing it externally and cooking at the
cafe in Shute Harbour (Whitsundays) to keep a roof over my head. There
were three water rats that lived under the building that the cafe was
in, as it sat over a breakwater. It often took a lot of explaining to
people that no, those "rats" weren't the sort likely to break in to
the kitchen and start eating their food.

Tara

Geodyne wrote:

On Fri, 20 Dec 2002 01:48:35 +1100, Trish Brown
wrote:

Now that you mention it, there's something that's had me befuddled for a
couple of years...

snip

They sound like water rats, a native species. They have half white
tails and often frequent breakwaters. If they had short fur on their
tails, then that clinches it.

You've resurrected a long-forgotten menory for me. When I first
started studying at uni I was doing it externally and cooking at the
cafe in Shute Harbour (Whitsundays) to keep a roof over my head. There
were three water rats that lived under the building that the cafe was
in, as it sat over a breakwater. It often took a lot of explaining to
people that no, those "rats" weren't the sort likely to break in to
the kitchen and start eating their food.

Tara


Hey, thanks, Tara! I know next to nothing about native mammals and am
*so* glad to know what I've been wondering about! LOL! Merry Christmas
to you! :-)

--
Trish {|:-}
Newcastle, NSW, Australia

"susannah" wrote in message ...
Where are you? urban sprawl, or other??

You might be surprised to find you have Antechinus living nearby. I am in
deepest Suburbia in Sydney, just near Parramatta, and we get Antechinus in
our yard quite often.

They turn their victims inside out and leave the skin. Quite a clever way
to eat something really

Not forgetting Bush Rats (Rattus fuscipes), they'll have a gnaw on anything
moving or still! lol




"S.. McLaren" wrote in message
...
"susannah" wrote in message news:h2WL9.375

birds would be harmed, I beg to differ. IF the blackbirds die somewhere
other than your property, perhaps a bird of prey or
carnivourous/omnivorous
creature might ingest said dead blackbird.... If enough poisoned animals
are
ingested then the level of poison builds and can kill the consumer.

Apart from my brother-in-law and a family of foxes, I don't know of any
other meat eating animals in my area!



There are many Native carnivorous/omnivorous species that still co
exist with us in suburbia,Not to mention the irresponsible domestic
pet owner who might not take too kindly to their "Innocent" little
puss being poisoined. There are also several of the Night Raptors in
the suburbs which you would not normally see or hear such as the owl,
frogmouth. The thing with the "local" wildlife is that to survive they
have had to become less obvious, whilst i HATE( not to harsh a
word)introduced species with a passion, i feel that we should try
other alternatives to remove them, than ones that may be destructive
to "Local" species. Planting LOCAL native plants can help encourage
the native wildlife to move back in, and a ball bearing sling shot is
always helpful in detering the "unwanted guests". There is a good site
to help with bringing back the local fauna you may like to check it
out there is alot of interesting info, as well as some not so "good"
but it gives a starting point.

"susannah" wrote in message ...
Where are you? urban sprawl, or other??

You might be surprised to find you have Antechinus living nearby. I am in
deepest Suburbia in Sydney, just near Parramatta, and we get Antechinus in
our yard quite often.

They turn their victims inside out and leave the skin. Quite a clever way
to eat something really

Not forgetting Bush Rats (Rattus fuscipes), they'll have a gnaw on anything
moving or still! lol




"S.. McLaren" wrote in message
...
"susannah" wrote in message news:h2WL9.375

birds would be harmed, I beg to differ. IF the blackbirds die somewhere
other than your property, perhaps a bird of prey or
carnivourous/omnivorous
creature might ingest said dead blackbird.... If enough poisoned animals
are
ingested then the level of poison builds and can kill the consumer.

Apart from my brother-in-law and a family of foxes, I don't know of any
other meat eating animals in my area!



I forgot to add the web site! WWW.floraforfauna.com.au. Worth a look