Corella sanctuaries bid for Murray Bridge district to save popular riverfront
Guns, lasers and drones couldn’t clear destructive flocks of parrots from riverside parks. Now one SA council hopes ‘sacrificial’ sanctuaries can succeed where hardware failed.
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Murray Bridge Council wants to create “corella sanctuaries” in a bid to stop their trail of destruction at its popular riverfront area.
The move comes as the State Government prepares to release a little corella management plan for public comment, ahead of large flocks arriving during summer.
The council will work with the Environment Department and SA Water to set up sanctuaries, or “sacrificial sites”, at the Mobilong Swamps and redundant irrigation swamps at Monteith.
It has been using measures such as drones, clapboards, kites and laser lights to deter the native birds, which strip trees in the district and rip up the surface at the Murray Bridge Lawn Tennis Association’s headquarters.
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Murray Bridge council chief executive Michael Sedgman said the council would continue scaring the birds away from its flagship riverfront reserves, but refrain from harassing them at Mobilong and Monteith in the hope they roost there instead.
“The reality is these are clever animals and they learn by experience,” Mr Sedgman said.
“A strategy that might be successful over a period of 3-6 months may not be as successful as a scaring tactic after a period of time.”
SA Water owns some of the land at Mobilong, and a spokesman said it was open to the idea.
Meantime, the state’s new corella strategy is due to be finalised in late spring.
An Environment Department spokeswoman said scaring techniques, such as using drones, electric bird deterrents, lights or shooting, had done little to address the issue.
“Instead flocks are often simply moved around the state,” she said.
The strategy, drawing on decades of research, would create a plan to “humanely” deal with the birds.
In Mount Barker, the council’s manager of health and public safety, Jamie Tann, said flocks of up to 10,000 birds arrived during the warmer months.
Corellas like open, cleared areas with water sources, and Murray Bridge and Mount Barker councils are planning modifications at parks to make them feel more vulnerable to predators, such as planting shrubs and building decking around lakes to make water harder to access.
While in early 2018, some of Mount Barker’s trees were “white with the birds”, Mr Tann said they did not cause enough damage to warrant culling.
Corella sanctuaries were also unlikely to help, he said.
“It might work for one or two years but with the number of birds we’re getting, they’d soon destroy that sanctuary,” Mr Tann said.
“There also needs to be a bit of acceptance that the birds aren’t going to go away.
“They enjoy the environment we’ve created in our towns. We’ve just got to manage it as best as possible without impacting our residents.”
An Alexandrina Council spokeswoman said Strathalbyn, Clayton Bay and Milang also bore the brunt of up to 10,000 corellas during summer.
michelle.etheridge@news.com.au