Flock of over 50 native birds die after falling from sky bleeding from eyes

A large flock of native birds has died after a mysterious illness caused them to fall from the sky, bleeding from their eyes and beaks. WARNING: Graphic

news.com.au JULY 15, 20198:18AM

WARNING: Graphic

Dozens of native corella birds have died overnight after they fell from the sky in an Adelaide outer suburb.

Bleeding from their eyes and beaks, more than 50 gravely ill birds began falling from the sky at a soccer oval in One Tree Hill, a suburb on the outskirts of Adelaide, about 2.30pm yesterday.

Volunteers from Casper’s Bird Rescue, founded by Sarah King, desperately tried to help the long-billed corellas, running to the oval and calling out for extra help on Facebook.

Ms King originally received a tip the birds had been shot, but vets working on the birds suspect they may have been poisoned.

Children at a nearby school who were attending vacation care saw a number of the sick and dying birds bleeding from their eyes and beaks, according to Yahoo.

According to Ms King, 11 volunteers arrived on the site yesterday at 2.30pm and stayed until 11pm collecting the 58 injured birds that were suffering and in great pain.

The volunteers took the birds to two different vets. Of the birds collected, 57 have now died, with “one possible survivor”, Ms Hill told news.com.au.

A conclusive necropsy has not yet been performed to detect poisons, news.com.au understands.

Continued

Adelaide calls for help from state government over 'near plague proportions' of Corellas

By Caroline Winter

Updated Wed at 9:33am

Thousands of noisy corellas in search of food are terrorising residents in the northern suburbs of Adelaide, wreaking havoc to street lights, signs and trees.

The local council has tried using everything from drones to pyrotechnics to disperse the birds, but now they are calling on the Environment Department to take charge.

Imagine this noise three times a day

A flock of corellas captured on a mobile phone flying over a house at Andrews Farm shows the level of noise the birds make as they pass over homes.

Sandy Bandtock said that scene and sound were all too familiar to her in nearby Munno Para West.

"Five past six in the morning they come past and then they come past in the afternoon and then they do it again probably at 10 past six that night as well," she said.

"It's probably three times [a day] they make all this noise, it's quite loud."

Ms Bandtock said the noise could be "quite frightening, until you know what it is".

Read on

Scientists use fire to save endangered birds on the fringes of Adelaide

By Tom Fedorowytsch

Updated 9 Feb 2017, 9:38pm

Planned burn-offs, which play an important role in protecting lives and properties from summer bushfires, are becoming increasingly critical to the survival of a rare bird species in South Australia.

The chestnut rumped heathwren has a subspecies which is found only in the Mt Lofty Ranges around Adelaide, and is considered endangered.

Fire ecologist Kirstin Abley said her team had only recently discovered fire was a vital part of maintaining the tiny bird's habitat.

"Initially we didn't realise they had a preference for recently-burnt habitat, and we thought they preferred longer unburnt habitat," she said.

"We're very good at putting out bushfires, so a lot of the habitat the heathwren has been occupying is long unburnt."

Ms Abley said her team at Natural Resources Adelaide and Mt Lofty Ranges were now using prescribed burns to ensure sections of the landscape developed new, thick undergrowth the birds adored.

"We're burning small patches of that habitat and hopefully generating some that is optimal for them, so their numbers can increase because the food and shelter is better," she said.

But it's a tricky balancing act for the ecologists, who need to protect both lives and properties, as well as other species with different preferences.
 

Lives and homes a priority over threatened species

Ms Abley said while the ultimate responsibility of fire ecologists was safeguarding lives and property, it was nice when the work dovetailed with helping wildlife.



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Death row reprieve for rare chooks in quarantine on Adelaide's Torrens Island

MORE than 4000 rare chickens on death row in quarantine on Torrens Island have been given a stay of execution until 10am on Friday.

A syndicate which spent a decade and $500,000 importing the poultry obtained a last minute court injunction halting the planned destruction of the flock at 7am today but Department of Agriculture officials insist the birds will have to be destroyed.

The Australian Rare Poultry Importation Syndicate is meeting with its lawyers today seeking advice on alternatives to save the chickens.

The destruction order was issued late Friday after a single, week-old chick died and an autopsy concluded the death was due to a strain of salmonella.

The letter advising the syndicate of the impending destruction from the officer who issued the order said it would receive 'a statement of reasons for my decision in the near future.'

The syndicate says the disease has not been detected in any other birds, including 'sentinel' birds bred to be susceptible to disease, and suspect it may be a 'false-positive' result.

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Federal Court to decide fate of 4000 rare chooks on July 25

ADELAIDE'S now world famous death row chickens have another stay of execution after Federal Court Judge Anthony Besanko gave 4000 fancy imported birds a second lifeline until midnight on July 25.

The chickens - being followed in blogs and petitions from around the world - arrived in Adelaide as eggs in what supporters say is a 'Noah's ark' project to replenish the local gene pool, as meat chickens are hybrids and no new non-commercial breeds have arrived since 1948.

However, the 10 year, $500,000 project to establish a disease-free flock made up of 45 breeds from the United Kingdom then bringing their fertile eggs to Australia faces disaster after the eggs hatched nine weeks ago and one of several chicks which died, was diagnosed with salmonella.

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