IJUBA
Member
...in/on/over our property here in Durban over a period of time.
We have the 'regular residents' like two types of wild doves (ringnecks and laughing doves), sparrows, bul-buls, white-eyes, mannikins, a variety of weaver finches, etc, etc that are almost part of the furniture here.
Then we also have the occasional 'visitors' like pintailed wydahs, Diederick cuckoos, Paradise flycatchers, European swallows, swifts - oh, quite a variety.
Although never landing here, I've also marked off the yellow-billed kites and plovers that pass overhead - far as I'm concerned, if I see them, they get listed.
Two species I would gladly like to see disappear forever are the ibises (we call them 'hadedahs') and Indian mynahs. Look, I don't mind the ibises if they just sit somewhere, but the sods are so NOISY - they think nothing of roosting in our next-door neighbours big tree and suddenly screeching at 2.00 a.m. - loud enough to awaken the dead! But I have more or less succeeded in scaring them off on a semi-permanent basis by now - when it gets dark, I go out with a strong flashlight and wave the beam at high speed where they are roosting, and boy - that really scares them! And of course, it doesn't harm/hurt them in any way, which is not my intention, anyway.
As for the mynahs - Durban is infested with these filthy things and are actually classified as vermin. The Indian who brought the first of this species here into Natal from Mother India years ago should have been sent back pronto with his birds and all. They ARE filthy - in fact, you would be disgusted to see what their nests consist of - any dirty piece of plastic, bits of dirty cloth, etc, etc, and waht is more, they are infested with lice. Another reason why I hate them is because they are bullies - where other birds build their nests and hatch chicks, these mynahs - it they can get at them - throw the chicks out of the nests and take over those nests. At the moment we have some sparrows nesting under the eaves, and we're keeping a wary eye open for any hostile activites from the mynahs.
Recent newcomers to our area are cardinal woodpeckers who have made a nest in the next door neighbour's tree in a trunk overhanging our property, and the mynahs have already tried to invade that nest too, but fortunately they are too big to get inside, and the little female woodpecker flew at one the other day - it was too beautiful to see!
We also have a squaretailed drongo - a beautiful pitch-black bird that is now becoming so tame that he comes right onto our veranda to eat out of the dogs' dishes - I cook rice and pets' mince for them and the drongo loves that. Not only him - the sparrows and doves also congregate on the veranda to share the food, and once in a while, if we keep very still, they even come into the lounge or kitchen!
Yes, our birds give us great pleasure and I'm hoping that more and more will eventually come over and stay...
BTW, I don't know about you good people, but here we can buy a CD: Robert's Bird Encyclopaedia (VERY pricey!) and I have the second edition, which is already quite old, and this thing is extremely educational - itentifying birds, listening to their calls, etc. Maybe you could put your heads together and compile something like that pertaining to your particular area?
We have the 'regular residents' like two types of wild doves (ringnecks and laughing doves), sparrows, bul-buls, white-eyes, mannikins, a variety of weaver finches, etc, etc that are almost part of the furniture here.
Then we also have the occasional 'visitors' like pintailed wydahs, Diederick cuckoos, Paradise flycatchers, European swallows, swifts - oh, quite a variety.
Although never landing here, I've also marked off the yellow-billed kites and plovers that pass overhead - far as I'm concerned, if I see them, they get listed.
Two species I would gladly like to see disappear forever are the ibises (we call them 'hadedahs') and Indian mynahs. Look, I don't mind the ibises if they just sit somewhere, but the sods are so NOISY - they think nothing of roosting in our next-door neighbours big tree and suddenly screeching at 2.00 a.m. - loud enough to awaken the dead! But I have more or less succeeded in scaring them off on a semi-permanent basis by now - when it gets dark, I go out with a strong flashlight and wave the beam at high speed where they are roosting, and boy - that really scares them! And of course, it doesn't harm/hurt them in any way, which is not my intention, anyway.
As for the mynahs - Durban is infested with these filthy things and are actually classified as vermin. The Indian who brought the first of this species here into Natal from Mother India years ago should have been sent back pronto with his birds and all. They ARE filthy - in fact, you would be disgusted to see what their nests consist of - any dirty piece of plastic, bits of dirty cloth, etc, etc, and waht is more, they are infested with lice. Another reason why I hate them is because they are bullies - where other birds build their nests and hatch chicks, these mynahs - it they can get at them - throw the chicks out of the nests and take over those nests. At the moment we have some sparrows nesting under the eaves, and we're keeping a wary eye open for any hostile activites from the mynahs.
Recent newcomers to our area are cardinal woodpeckers who have made a nest in the next door neighbour's tree in a trunk overhanging our property, and the mynahs have already tried to invade that nest too, but fortunately they are too big to get inside, and the little female woodpecker flew at one the other day - it was too beautiful to see!
We also have a squaretailed drongo - a beautiful pitch-black bird that is now becoming so tame that he comes right onto our veranda to eat out of the dogs' dishes - I cook rice and pets' mince for them and the drongo loves that. Not only him - the sparrows and doves also congregate on the veranda to share the food, and once in a while, if we keep very still, they even come into the lounge or kitchen!
Yes, our birds give us great pleasure and I'm hoping that more and more will eventually come over and stay...
BTW, I don't know about you good people, but here we can buy a CD: Robert's Bird Encyclopaedia (VERY pricey!) and I have the second edition, which is already quite old, and this thing is extremely educational - itentifying birds, listening to their calls, etc. Maybe you could put your heads together and compile something like that pertaining to your particular area?
