Pittwater Online News

April 8 - 14, 2018: Issue 355

Attracting Insectivore Birds to Your Garden: DIY Natural Tick Control

Red wattlebird (Anthochaera carunculata) - an insect eater

In Reducing Ticks in Your Garden: Garden care, Plants that Repel, What to Wear Outdoors a few insights into maintaining your garden to reduce tick incidence lists the small bird insectivores, species like the Silvereye, White-throated Treecreeper, Spotted Pardalote, Gerygone Fairywren and Thornbill, which feed on the ticks. Attracting these birds back into your garden will provide not only a residence for tick eaters but also the delightful moments watching these tiny birds provides.

They are still around in Pittwater, so providing areas between the bush reserves they are still seen in; Barrenjoey headland, Ingleside,Narrabeen lagoon and Warriewood wetlands, as well as everywhere in between, may increase their numbers and lessen tick pockets.

In Tips for Growing a Native Garden how to plant and look after the flora that will bring these back smaller birds is shared. This page lists some of the plants specifically attractive to small bird insectivores and a few other ideas on how to make your garden their oasis.

By planting a range of native plants of different heights and densities in your garden, you will encourage many different small birds to visit or even take up residence. You could see Finches, Silvereyes, Wrens, Robins, Wagtails, Pardalotes and small Honeyeaters visiting your home and their delightful little twitters, as many of these birds are quite gregarious, will let you know where they are even when you can't see them.

As these birds feast on insects they will also reduce the need to use pesticides.

Silvereye ( Zosterops lateralis)

The Silvereye is a small bird with a conspicuous ring of white feathers around the eye, and belongs to a group of birds known as white-eyes. The Silvereye shows interesting plumage variations across its range. The grey back and olive-green head and wings are found in birds through the east, while western birds have a uniformly olive-green back.

Silvereyes feed on insect prey and large amounts of fruit and nectar.

White-throated Treecreeper (Cormobates leucophaea)

The White-throated Treecreeper is dark brown, with a distinctive white throat and chest, and white streaks on its flanks, edged with black. The wings have a red bar that is visible in flight and the undertail is barred. The female has an orange mark on the sides of the face. Like other treecreepers, spends most of its time foraging in trees and has a short, spiralling flight.

The White-throated Treecreeper feeds mainly on ants, but will eat other invertebrates as well as nectar.

Spotted Pardalote (Pardalotus punctatus)

The Spotted Pardalote is a tiny bird that is most often high in a eucalypt canopy, so it is more often detected by its characteristic call. The wings, tail and head of the male are black and covered with small, distinct white spots. Males have a pale eyebrow, a yellow throat and a red rump. Females are similar but have less-distinct markings.

The Spotted Pardalote forages on the foliage of trees for insects, especially psyllids( tiny native sap-sucking insect that are occasionally referred to as plant lice), and sugary exudates from leaves and psyllids.

Superb Fairywren (Malurus cyaneus)

The Superb Fairywren, also known as the Superb Blue-wren or colloquially as the Blue Wren, is a passerine bird of the family Maluridae, common and familiar across southeastern Australia. The species is sedentary and territorial, also exhibiting a high degree of sexual dimorphism; the male in breeding plumage has a striking bright blue forehead, ear coverts, mantle, and tail, with a black mask and black or dark blue throat. Non-breeding males, females and juveniles are predominantly grey-brown in colour; this gave the early impression that males were polygamous, as all dull-coloured birds were taken for females.

The Superb Fairywren mainly eats insects and supplements its diet with seeds.

Male Superb Fairy Wren.

Female Superb Fairy Wren.

Willy Wagtail (Rhipidura leucophrys) - also loves insects

Striated Thornbill (Acanthiza lineata) and Brown Thornbill (Acanthiza pusilla)

The Striated Thornbill can be distinguished from the similarly sized and shaped Brown Thornbill, A. pusilla, by its orange-brown cap streaked with white and by black streaking on its yellow-white underparts. In January this year we brought you a page of those Brown Thornbills found happy in the trees beside the yellow brick road at Avalon. It also has a thinner, higher pitched call than the Brown Thornbill and is more commonly found higher in trees. The Striated Thornbill pictured here (below right) was photographed at Ingleside and is found only in the south-eastern mainland of Australia from southern Queensland to eastern South Australia.

They live in open forests and woodlands, mainly those dominated by eucalypts, with a well-developed understorey. They are sometimes seen in parks and gardens, preferring areas that are more than ten years old and can also be common in agricultural areas, particularly in areas with remnant patches or tree corridors near forests or woodlands.

The Striated Thornbill feeds mainly on insects, but may sometimes eat seeds, nectar or fruit. They mainly feed in trees in small flocks, but may sometimes feed on the ground. Will be seen feeding in mixed flocks with other small insect-eating birds. Striated Thornbills may be important in reducing psyllid infestations after Bell Miners (which 'farm' the psyllids) have been removed from an area.

The Brown Thornbill (Acanthiza pusilla) is a passerine bird usually found in eastern and south-eastern Australia, including Tasmania. It can grow up to 10 cm long, and feeds on insects but may sometimes eat seeds, nectar or fruit.

They feed, mainly in pairs, at all levels from the ground up, but mostly in understorey shrubs and low trees. Will feed in mixed flocks with other thornbills out of breeding season.

The one pictured below was photographed beside the Careel Creek, which has been restored through local bushcare volunteers.

These birds love:

The nectar of native trees and bushes. Plant flowering trees that are native to your area, eucalypts such as swamp mahogany, angophoras, spotted gums or ti-trees. They like a variety of foods so give yourself a variety of plants and native grasses. Silvereyes love Figs, Lillipillies, Bluebuerry, Ash and Walking stick Palm, which provide them with shelter and protection too.
Finches eat the seeds from mature native grasses such as Wallaby Grass, Red Fruited Saw Sedge, Tussock Grass, Kangaroo Grass, Wiry Panic, Basket Grass, Wire Grass, Plumegrass, Hedgehog Grass and Weeping Grass.
Plump, juicy insects and bugs. Offer a feast of bugs and insects by mulching your gardens well and leaving a bit of leaf litter under your trees and bushes. These birds love to eat all of the critters that live in your mulch like earthworms and grubs or up in your trees, like spiders and moths.
Clean water. Keep a bird bath in your garden for small birds to drink and bathe in. Keep the water is clean and locate it above the ground so they feel safe from predators. Bird baths should be shallow enough to allow birds to stand in them to clean their feathers. It’s also helpful to choose baths that have sloping sides or to put stones at the edge to provide gradual access to the water. It may also be a good idea to have two sources, or bird baths, in your garden and these need to be located where the birds will feel safe or able to escape quickly if startled. Bird baths or ponds (preferably multiple drinking sites) can dart for cover in an adjacent “prickly” bush if placed so they are little bird friendly.
Give your little birds a safe path to travel around your garden between their treetop homes and the ground. Along with your taller native trees, plant soft shrubs about 1-2 m high, surrounded by bushes the same height that are a bit more spiky and protective. Add small shrubs for food and shelter, and plant mixed native grasses and ground cover so that there are plenty of insects for Silvereyes to eat.

Bill Conroy, once a long term Avalon resident, in Ticks in residential areas and institutional gardens in the Pittwater Shire and adjacent areas, stated that 'among trees shrubs the smooth-barked species with large shiny well spaced leaves are less likely to harbour ticks than those with rough or papery barks and dense tightly packed or furry foliage. Among native trees and shrubs, Eucalyptus, Angophoras, Tristanias, Brachychitons, Clerodendrum and Acronychia are less likely to be harbouring ticks than species of Grevillea, Hakea, Leptospermum, Melaleuca, Casuarina and Kunzea. The latter group group tend to have tightly packed fine leaves or leaflets towards the end of their branches giving the sort of moist sheltered conditions where ticks can await opportunity to brush off on a passing human or animal.' When installing an insectivore bird-friendly garden you may want to include some of these as they will be 'gleaned' by such birds of ticks.

Australian Native Plants List

The following is a list of Australian native plants that are recommended within the backyard bird garden by those in the know. That said, it’s a great idea to check with our local plant nursery (Green Life at Johnson Brothers Mitre 10 Mona vale has a trained horticulturist on staff) or bird watchers group for their recommendations. As always, it’s incredibly important to avoid invasive plants and get rid of these if in your garden, especially those with bird attracting fruits or seeds, like the currently flowering Cassia (Senna pendula) which will be spread into bush reserves by birds eating it and take over these if not pulled out. Where a species name only is mentioned in the below lists, it is important to source locally native variations of these plants.

Grasses – Provide seed, shelter and nesting material

Poa labillardieri – Common Tussock Grass

Themeda triandra – Kangaroo Grass

Austrodanthonia sp. – Wallaby Grass

Groundcovers and Wildflowers – Provide nectar, seed, shelter and host insects

Dichondra repens – Kidney Weed

Kennedia prostrata – Running Postman

Banksia sp.

Grevillea sp.

Hibbertia sericea – Guinea Flower

Chrysocephalum sp. – Everlastings

Shrubs – Provide nectar, seed, shelter and host insects

Acacia sp. – Wattle

Correa sp.

Bursaria sp.

Leptospermum sp.

Melaleuca sp.

Callistemon sp. – Bottlebrush

Trees – Provide nectar, seed, shelter, nesting sites and host insects

Eucalyptus sp. – Gum Tree

Leptospermum sp.

Melaleuca sp.

Acacia sp. – Wattle

Little birds don't like:

Open grasslands or lawn without any trees or bushes to hide in.
Predators like cats, and birds of prey like hawks.
Gardens with only a few types of plants. They like a variety of foods.

Happy birding!