I know they really are a pest as far as the farmers are concerned but I can't help liking these birds.
We have two macadamia nut trees and I guess they don't eat too many nuts but I was wondering if anyone has had success with moving them on when they have invaded their trees.
When I was at the Caloundra Markets recently I spoke to someone who has a macadamia nut farm and he said a good way to get rid of them was to encourage one's neighbour to grow a pecan nut tree as the birds preferred pecan nuts to macadamia nuts. :-) However, we have one of those too so that doesn't really solve the problem.
They must have strong beaks as we broke many nutcrackers trying to crack macadamia nuts before we bought one of these lever nutcrackers. If you have a macadamia tree in your backyard, it is worth buying one of these.
So now tell me, do you have any ideas for moving these birds on...perhaps to neighbouring pecan nut trees? :-)
We were 'victims' of the cockies too, we have two pecans. We have learned to share, but we keep two pieces of wood on the verandah and bang them together when a flock settles down in the branches. They move along quickly then, but you have to watch as they sometimes just go a little way and then come back when they think you have forgotten about them!
ReplyDeleteBarb
Fortunately we haven't had a flock in the trees but I have seen about five or so at one stage. Usually there are only a couple so I guess we just have to learn to share too. :-)
ReplyDeleteOh wow. How lovely and very exotic to me here in cold Northern Ireland.
ReplyDeleteElablue, I guess they would seem exotic to you. We do tend to take our wildlife for granted here in Australia. Our farmers wouldn't share your opinion I dare say and would call them anything but 'lovely'. LOL! They can be a real pest but we only get a few at a time here in town.
ReplyDeleteI'm with Elablue, they seem exotic to me as well. I don't know if they have any natural predators but several businesses that had problems with pigeons have taken to using taped Hawk cries - scares the birds away from the buildings and statues - maybe a tape of a cat? ;) The macadamias seem exotic as well, especially if you could see the prices we have to pay here in the States.
ReplyDeleteHa ha, that is funny about the pigeons as hubby keeps pigeons. Can't get rid of the jolly things either as they keep coming back. LOL!
ReplyDeleteMacadamia nuts are also expensive here in Australia but perhaps not as expensive as they are in the US. I guess we take them for granted as we always have an abundance and we really don't use them as much as we should as they are quite a healthy nut. It's just the cracking of the nuts that puts me off although our nutcracker is really amazing.