FEATURE


…the South Australian government is offering a $500 payment to landowners who tin a tree chosen by Red Tailed Cockatoos as a nest site. This is a result we had hoped for, that Ray’s tinning exercise would be taken up as standard practice.


less expensive to strap old dry logs to existing trees and continue to clad the tree. While we were camped by the lakes


at Tandau we saw an example of Ray’s flock management. The cotton crop was almost ready for harvesting so it was at its most vulnerable stage to be attacked by the areas Short Billed Corellas. At dawn a jeep with a trailer loaded with a ton of wheat came past our tents, we followed it to an adjacent field where it spread the wheat. The Corellas descended upon it in their thousands, there was a white carpet of birds with more circling overhead, it was impossible to estimate the number present. There were also a few emus


taking advantage of a free breakfast. This morning exercise was repeated until the cotton was harvested. When the wheat was eaten the Corellas roosted in the trees around the lake, it looked as though the trees were in full blossom but it was feathers not flowers, a never to be forgotten morning. In the tree above our tent when we returned were two Galahs amongst all the Corellas obviously part of the flock. Ray’s explanation was that a pair of Corellas would have taken over a Galahs nest to raise their own young and overlooked two fertile eggs which they had hatched with their own. We have just been told that the South


Australian government is offering a $500 payment to landowners who tin a tree chosen by Red Tailed Cockatoos as a nest site. This is a result we had hoped for, that Ray’s tinning exercise would be taken up as standard practice. Many PS members have visited John’s tree on their trips with Ray. He hopes to visit it in September and renew the tin with plastic and polish the plaque while he is at it.


BIRD SCENE 17


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