Education report September 2019

The Eltham Plant Expo was held on 14 and 15 September at the Eltham Community Centre. Nearly 700 paying adults attended on the Saturday as well as helpers and children. The Committee was delighted. Sunday was quieter with approximately 200 – 300 attending. My thanks to Anthea Fleming, Daphne Hards and Scot Sharman who helped me on Saturday and Bernie Stock and Helen who helped Ron and I set up on Friday and returned on Sunday to help me pack up.

On Friday 20 September, 13 U3A Hawthorn members, led by Pat Bingham, enjoyed the sunshine, but not the wind, on a walk around Norton’s Park, Wantirna, and part of Gardiner’s Creek in Shepherd’s Bush. There were many Sulphur-crested Cockatoos, Rainbow Lorikeets and even Eastern Rosellas noisily disputing nesting hollows in the big old Manna Gums along the Creek. A group of eight Cattle Egret flew over and a small flock of Striated Thornbills were busily feeding in the wattles. In all, 27 species were listed, some by sight, others by sound. Thank you Pat for leading the walk and Jim Sharpe for your photograph of an Eastern Rosella.

The Birds in Schools Program is progressing very well and has had some well-deserved publicity.  Thanks Sally Heeps and Bill Ramsay for their assistance.

Breakfast with the Birds at Banyule is on Sunday 27 October.  I have a list of people available on that day but I may need more.  This year people are being charged $5 a head or $10 for a family of 4 to attend.

Janet Hand, BirdLife Melbourne Education Coordinator

Education report – May 2018

Wednesday 2 May

23 members of U3A Deepdene came to hear Pat Bingham speak about “Australia – Land of Parrots”.  The lecture covered historical records, old World Maps, modern genetics and recent taxonomy, and stimulated lots of discussion and personal experiences (with both positive and negative comments) of interactions with the Australasian representatives of the family.

Ten ladies from Mercy Place Boronia made their way to the Yarran Dheran Nature Reserve in Mitcham for our annual activities morning. This involved watching a PowerPoint presentation by Janet Hand on ‘Same bird, different feathers’ – the different appearance of birds due to their age and sex. This was followed by a craft activity of making greetings cards using bird photographs and then morning tea. Later, the ladies went for a short walk in the Reserve. Thank you Gay Gallagher and Sonja Ross for your assistance, and Gay for arranging the use of the Yarran Dheran Education Centre.

Sunday 6 May

As part of this year’s Mullum Mullum Festival, Geoff Russell gave a presentation and a short talk in the Information Centre about the history of Yarran Dheran Nature Reserve and the birds that have been recorded in the Reserve. He had a group of 28 people which included a couple children. Weather wise it was a perfect day for birding –  18C, fine, sunny and most importantly no wind. After the talk, he took them on a 3 km walk through the Reserve and along the Mullum Mullum Creek. This lasted just over two hours and they recorded 29 species. They had several good views of Common Bronzewings and King Parrots. Spotted Pardalotes were heard many times but were very difficult to see because of their small size and the tall, dense forest.

Tuesday 15 May

On a cold day, 25 ladies of the Ladies Guild braved the elements at the Holy Trinity Anglican Church in Doncaster. Janet Hand gave a PowerPoint presentation on how to attract birds to their gardens naturally.  This presentation was well received and was followed by a lovely afternoon tea.

Friday 18 May

Hawthorn U3A’s monthly Birdwalk this month was at Norton’s Park & Shepherd’s Bush. As usual this group was led by Pat Bingham. They had 14 attendees and saw 22 species.  The parks were rather quiet except for a very noisy mob of about thirty Sulphur-crested Cockatoos.  Several Eastern Rosellas were feeding in the short grass, a quiet Kookaburra looked for prey in the longer grass and a Grey Currawong having called, moved off quickly.  Once again, the group had good looks at young male Superb Fairy-wrens in non-breeding plumage, but, sadly, the Scarlet Robins, seen well last year, were missing in 2018.

Thank you everyone for your contribution to our program.

Janet Hand, BirdLife Melbourne Education Coordinator (Phone: 9842 4177)

June 2017 Education activities

On Wednesday 7 June, Bill Ramsay did a presentation at the Hawthorn Library for their Everyday English Class which is run as part of the Library’s Multicultural Program. The audience consisted of seven women plus the Coordinator. Usually she expected 12 but a few had pulled out. Bill spoke about “Attracting birds to your garden and what you may hope to see”. There was a fair bit of audience interaction and questions during the presentation which was a good sign. This was the purpose of such presentations and everyone seemed appreciative of Bill’s efforts.

Approximately 50 people were present when Sally Heeps addressed the Mill Park Garden Club on Friday 16 June. Sally’s topic was ‘Attracting birds to your garden naturally”. They seemed to enjoy hearing how to attract birds by plantings and liked identifying the birds which did visit their gardens. Sally also talked a little about nest boxes, and digressed into how the changes in natural vegetation can impact bird species – how the Kinglake fires opened the canopy to birds of prey. The Club donated $50 to BirdLife Melbourne in appreciation of our work.

On the same day – Friday 16 June, Pat Bingham led the Hawthorn U3A monthly Birdwalk to Norton’s Park & Shepherd’s Bush. They had a lovely sunny morning with 17 participants. 27 species were sighted including three Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos chewing up pinecones, a female Scarlet Robin and several Sulphur-crested Cockatoos exploring tree hollows and raucously defending their choices. Then for the lucky late leavers, they had a Peregrine Falcon circling over the car park.

Sue Wilson from the Hawthorn U3A group supplied the following photos.

 

Thank you to all the above people.

Janet Hand, BirdLife Melbourne Education Coordinator (Phone: 9842 4177)