Changing Habitat Part 2 – A Note from Gavin

All good things must come to an end. Yesterday the tree surgeons moved in with their trucks, cherry picker and mobile chipper but the birds had moved back. A hasty roadside conference followed phone calls to base and several door knockings. The high drama was supervised all morning from above by currawongs, suburban pests by my reckoning.

Frogmouths resisting “arrest” had to be witnessed. Despite a very noisy and finally violent intrusion my owls demonstrated a distinct preference for our late street tree with its dead canopy hiding their daytime roost, a rough barked E. nicholii. Other mature trees in the street are the local white barked E. mannifera and smooth barked E. melliodora.

With a chainsaw running downstairs, common sense prevailed. After tapping their perch with a long stick from the aerial platform failed, the tree was shaken from the top down. The birds reluctantly hopped to higher branches then perched again, just out of reach.

With time patience running out on both sides an extra violent movement or two eventually dislodged them both. They flew off independently to neighbouring trees but were now split up on either side of the street. The dead tree was immediately felled in large pieces, completely mulched and the road side all swept up before smoko.

It seems urban safety programs and taxpayer’s funds are well protected. Note how the frogmouth displays a “stiff upper lip” next door as their temporary home disappears.

Gavin.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Currawong

http://www.anbg.gov.au/gnp/gnp7/eucalyptus-mannifera.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flora_of_the_Australian_Capital_Territory