YOU may have noticed in recent months that the Greater Shepparton region has been seemingly inundated with corellas and cockatoos, and if you haven’t seen them, you sure as well must’ve heard them.
Despite no official statement on the larger than average numbers of the birds around town, local golf clubs are up in arms as they are left with large repair bills and the need to develop strategies to get the birds to move on safely.
Sulphur Crested Cockatoos, Long Billed Corellas and Galahs are the predominant native birds we see around and they can cause extensive damage to buildings, lawns and infrastructure.
Hill Top Golf and Country Club Tatura vice president, Paul Newman, says their course has suffered extensive damage to its greens this year, with the repair bill running into the thousands.
“There are definitely more birds this year than previous years. Many factors may be at play, maybe it’s a knock-on effect from the bushfires, perhaps the birds have less bushland to inhabit so they have been pushed into built-up areas.” Paul said.
It’s not about eradicating native birds for the club, it’s about moving them on safely to avoid them causing damage.
“We want to get the birds to move on as safely as possible, we care about their wellbeing and employing tactics such as the use of Council approved scare guns is one way we can do this and protect our course and surrounding infrastructure.”
Paul is not alone with Shepparton Golf Club general manager, Russell Powell, stating that their course has also suffered a similar fate.
“I haven’t seen this many birds around before. We need to work together with the Council and environmental departments to devise tactics that help the birds migrate further towards bushland.” said Russell.
