Aussie Finch Forum

Playing fair with this?:

"Like all members of the Cracticus family, Grey Butcherbirds are carnivores. They take animals from the size of large ants up to small birds or small lizards. As nest robbers they are feared by other bird species. They earn their name by wedging larger prey into forks of branches and then ripping it apart. "

I don't think so!

But I have got that third owl scarer up to see if it gets any traction....... as a first step!

Double wiring the sides would significantly detract from the aesthetic reasons to put an aviary there in the first place, and I doubt painting the wire black would be enough. Maybe painted mousewire sides would be better, but a real pain to retrofit.

The only permanent solution lies in aviary construction.

They are native species and as such protected ... moving them only creates another empty territory for the next predator .

Sorry to say but I believe tiaris and deb are right. Aviery needs to fixed not the outside birds. When moving a possum from a house all that is happening is a few months free of it and then new male/female moves in and so on. Fix the housing issue or food and bingo possum usually leaves.

E.Orix, that is good sound advice!

I have an aviary that I put 5mm mesh on it and then painted it black,no problems seeing the birds,keeps out butcher birds and mice.

VinceS wrote:

Netsurfer wrote:It must have been a... Grey Butcher bird.

You are exactly right, thank you. So now I know for sure. I have an Field Guide to the Birds of Australia and the head markings looked like those on the large honeyeaters. But I didn't spot the grey butchers, being buried in with magpies as they are. A pair of these are definitely the villains that have taken to calling by to see what's on the slab for a morning snack!

They are often hard to see but I can always hear their song (devil's flute) a flute-like song or their lough (more like a screech). They also are very conning, I was feeding Rainbow Lorikeets when I saw a flock of sparrows land onto the bred and sugar, the Butcher Bird was among them, it was doing exactly the same as sparrows "lands onto the bred then for no reason flies back into the tree" than again and again. The moment it got close enough to a sparrow it grabbed him, took me only a few seconds to ran up to them to try to free the poor bird but the sparrow was badly hurt and died not long after.

jusdeb wrote:They are native species and as such protected ... moving them only creates another empty territory for the next predator .

Agree only partly with you, yes they are native and you should not harm them, especially not during the breeding time (spring - autumn), remember they have their own young to feed but at other times there is no harm in relocating them and hopefully there will be no more Butcher birds for a year or two. I haven't seen any for more then five years. But the danger is real and they can kill or harm an aviary bird if they catch it, 6mm wire or a shade cloth will prevent it. I personally have no problems, I even put out minced meat or chicken pieces for them, but, I am worried for a day or two after the young jump out of the nest.

OK, the "ring of death" seems to be working. With three plastic owls glaring down at the area where the butcher birds like to concentrate their attention on they are a little chicken to risk it when they can't watch all three owls at once and see if one springs into life. This morning one butcher bird sat on the brick wall 4m behind the closest owl and watched for a while, about 15 minutes - there was a fair bit of calling back and forth and I guess the other one (out of sight) said "we need to go" and it did. Clearly when I have seen them before one is much more forward than the other, and if it has decided there are better hunting grounds somewhere else that will be just fine by me.

The mynah birds come and go, but since the owls arrived they never do more than swoop low and fly off. The more aggressive butcher birds seem to be limited to the one pair, I doubt anything will take their place other than by chance if they leave or if alternately I wind up sorting out a little relocation present for them should the plastic not stand the test of time.... But we'll see. If I ultimately have to change to mouse wire well I have figured I can mesh off the inside with the pond cover fabric mesh and do a proper replacement job on it, but I am not in a hurry to add this task to the never-ending list of what else needs to be done round here!

Ive relocated Mynahs only to have Butcher birds move in .
Best deterrent Ive found is to have a family of wattle birds move in , they are a formidable opponent when they gather in numbers and they don't attack the aviaries .

Ive since been told that moving the native mynahs is as bad as killing them as they wither when away from the family unit .

I have a eagle from bunnings that the natives laugh at .