Bower Birds eating vegetables

 Does anyone have any experience of bowerbirds eating vegetables
recently?

Two of my friends who have been gardening for many years in different
locations around Sydney tell me that they have been recently having
their gardens attacked by bower birds.  The birds are having a big
impact on their productivity.

Has anyone else had this experience?

Does anyone have any suggestions as to why this might be happening
recently?

Has anyone got any suggestions about how to stop bower birds from
eating vegetables?

 
habitat/feeding site loss? perhaps they have young ones & need more food
than previously? perhaps they just moved in nearby?


well, afaik they prefer fruit, so maybe they should grow some of that & the
veg will be left alone ;-)

more realistically, i put more store on barrier methods more than anything
else for this sort of thing: strong netting, etc.

we're being harrassed by (amongst other things) what they call wingless
grasshoppers - i'm going to have to make chilli or garlic spray, or one of
those foul-tasting concoctions. perhaps these types of things work for birds
also? i'm inclined to think they would.

we were having a great deal of trouble with bowerbirds in the house, because
they are quick learners & knew how & when to come in, & what to go for when
they did come in. i kept the house closed up when i wasn't literally in it,
& now the problem has gone away. whatever solution your friends find,
they'll just have to keep at it for as long as it takes until their visitors
realise there's no use, and go away.
kylie

 Joshua Slocum wrote:

Are they absolutely sure they are bower birds?
I have trouble with blackbirds and seedlings and have to mesh them over.

 

We have either 8 or 10 Spotted bower birds here (near Longreach CW QLD), and
they'll eat anything they like! They will eat the mandarins off the tree, but
leave the side facing the house (which is bloody annoying), they eat the chook
food, they eat lamb protein feed nuts (which are 1.5" and about 1/2" thick),
they eat pineapples, dry cat bikkys, yoghurt, pan drippings, tinned cat food,
bread, you name it.
Another problem is some of the stuff the bower birds nick is to imrpess the
girlfriend.  Certain berries, and other objects become preferred favourites for
decking out the love-pad.  They will also lay a fan of choice items out in front
of a female if she stays in one spot for a few minutes. If she moves a few feet,
he goes and gets a new lot of items(apparently cannot be seen using the old
stuff!).  This is one way to lose a lot of berries/budding fruit or flowers from
your plants...

Am I surprised the bower birds might be eating the vegies?  Not at all.

Is it because their habitat has been destroyed?  No. It's because they will take
advantage of any opportunity they see to get an easy feed. They are great
survivors, and take advantage of it all.

We have to net anything of value in the garden to keep the bower birds out. They
love tomatoes, but will turn their hand to anything that they like.  They are
smart, inventive, excellent mimics, jaunty, inquisitive and all of the above.
They cause us great headaches (as well as a few other birds here), along with
many hours of entertainment...

Oh...and wear leather gloves when removing one from the house.  That bloody beak
is sharp!


Cheers,

Rod.....Out Back

 Rod Out Back wrote:


beak

awww, keep it and let us know how you get on with house training {:-).