This month there have been three education activities.
On Tuesday 10 July, Gay Gallagher addressed approximately 20 ladies at the Mooroolbark YWCA. Gay’s presentation was ‘Attracting birds to your garden naturally’. The ladies found the topic interesting and asked plenty of questions.
Friday, 20 July found 19 U3A Hawthorn Bird walkers at the Glen Iris Wetlands. Again, a cold, very windy morning after heavy rain. Birds were few and far between but several Spinebills put on a good show feeding in Correa bushes. Dusky Moorhen and Coot emerged from reedbeds in one of the pondages, probably hoping to be fed, joining Pacific Black Ducks, Chestnut Teal and Wood Duck that milled around on the shore. A couple of the ‘Black Ducks’ were definitely Mallard hybrids with heavy orange-yellow legs and big, yellowish bills. 21 species in total were seen/heard over the course of the morning. Thank you to Pat Bingham for leading the walk and reporting on it.
Bill Ramsay gave a presentation to about 30 people at a Glencare meeting at the Glen Waverley Community Centre on the morning of 31 July. The presentation was titled ‘Attracting birds to your garden and what you can hope to see’. Several questions, on a range of issues, were asked by the attendees. Some time was spent in explaining that those large black birds that are frequently seen in Melbourne gardens are Little Ravens and not Crows, and this seemed to be a surprise to most. The BirdLife Australia ‘Backyard Birds of Victoria’ flyer was distributed and hopefully some of the attendees will use it to try and identify birds in their garden.
Thanks to Gay, Pat and Bill for their activities.
Janet Hand, BirdLife Melbourne Education Coordinator (Phone: 9842 4177)
birdlifemelbourne 