Ray considered replacing the tin with heavy duty plastic, (Figure 8) but initial trials seemed to suggest that tin is better in the long term. The trial plastic became very brittle under extreme weather and started to crack, particularly around the points where the nails were driven through. However the wood of the trees is very hard and it is not easy to fix the tin to the trees. Therefore Ray is now considering using a different type of plastic and using wire fixed top and bottom to tie them to the trees. He also discovered the park management team at the nearby national park had commenced a trial with large pine nesting logs on concrete poles. (Figure 9) However these are expensive and do not appear to appeal to the cockatoos. They seem to prefer smaller nest sites. Ray felt it would be better as well as
much less expensive to strap old dry logs to existing trees and continue to clad the tree.
David recalls that while they were camped by the lakes at Tandau the party saw an example of Ray’s flock management. The cotton crop was almost ready for harvesting so it was at its most vulnerable stage for attack by the Short Billed Corellas in the area. At dawn a jeep with a trailer loaded with a ton of wheat came past their tents; the party 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
Figure 8 - Tree trunk with clear plastic sheath
Figure 9 - Nesting log on concrete pole
22 BIRD SCENE
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