By KATH GANNAWAY
A BADGER Creek couple is appealing to locals not to include plastic milk-bottle rings in their offerings for visiting bower birds.
Maureen and Bluey Garlick regularly have as many as 10 to 15 of the colourful native birds visiting their garden on the Badger Creek estate.
But it’s not always a happy sight.
Male bower birds collect blue items to put in their bower as a sort of pick-up line for the ladies.
The blue milk-bottle rings really catch their eye, but can prove lethal.
“When they pick up the ring it flips over their head,” Mrs Garlick said.
“We’ve had two birds now with these rings caught between their beak and the back of the head.
“When you have a defenceless bower bird coming over, squawking and just standing there while you cut the ring off it’s terribly distressing.
“If this is happening in our backyard, you have to wonder how many are out there starving to death.”
Mrs Garlick said they returned last week from a holiday to find several of the blue rings in the yard and after cleaning them up, just hours later found more.
“I really feel that someone is putting these out for the birds, and probably thinks they are doing the bird a favour,” she said.
“But it’s the opposite.”
Healesville Sanctuary has had the same experience in the past and backs Mrs Garlick’s plea to people to cut colourful plastic rings off bottles and jars before disposing of them.
Blue is a favourite colour for bower birds, but not the only colour, so getting into the habit of cutting rings so they no longer pose a threat to birds or other wildlife is a simple and effective way of looking out for defenceless wildlife.
