Birds in the Club: Caring for nature's pest controllers

When pest rats and mice show up uninvited, it can be tempting to reach straight for rodent bait, but how we manage pest rodents on our property can have deadly consequences for wildlife and pets.

Birds like owls, eagles, magpies and kookaburras, eat rodents along with other prey, making them natural pest controllers. Unfortunately, with some poisons, what the pests eat can end up in their predator. As the bird eats too many poisoned pests, the level of poison rises. While it may not kill the bird directly, the poison can weaken it enough that it can’t feed or fly away from threats like cars, so it dies an early death. If this happens in the breeding season, young birds may also die when their parents don’t come back to feed them.

And birds aren’t the only animals affected by these particular poisons. Possums can eat the baits directly. Lizards, snakes, quolls, dogs and cats are also poisoned in the same way that birds are.

Program

To learn more about how these harmful rodent poisons are affecting our birds, join us at the ‘Birds in the Club’, where we’ll screen the documentary, ‘Night Calling’, about Masked Owls and the campaign for stronger protection for all birds and other animals affected by the scourge of a particular type of rat poison, second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides (SGARs).

We’ll also have a talk by local award-winning ecologist and photographer, Jayden Gunn, on the bird species in the Cowra region that are affected by SGARs. Chris Kelly, with an extensive career in the regulatory environment and the safe and responsible use of agricultural chemicals, will talk about how chemicals such as SGARs are regulated, and the status of the current review of SGARs.

Following a break for a light supper, Amanda Foxon-Hill, Mid Lachlan Landcare, will facilitate an interactive panel. On the panel will be

Local vet Peter Launders, to discuss dealing with animals affected by SGARs and other poisons,
Jayden Gunn for more information about the local birds
Chris Kelly to provide further insight on the current review of these rodenticides, and
Steve Henry from CSIRO's Rodent Pest Management group.

The detailed program for further information.

Cost

The evening is free, but please register for catering purposes.

BIGnet

This event is being held in conjunction with the September meeting of the Bird Interest Group network (BIGnet), an alliance of birding organisations with bird conservation as one of their objectives. See https://events.humanitix.com/bignet-meeting-13-14-september

for more information, or if you would like to join any of the BIGnet events.