Corellas in huge numbers leave trail of destruction across South Australia

THEY’VE faced drones, fireworks, sound cannons, lasers and even trained falcons – but the corellas of South Australia are still winning.

Corellas in plague prortions in the town centre at Strathalbyn. Picture: David Hall

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THEY’VE faced drones, fireworks, sound cannons, lasers and even trained falcons – but the corellas of South Australia are still winning.

From Goolwa to Gawler and Aldinga to the Riverland, the cheeky little cockatoos are destroying trees, wrecking streetlights, and chomping their way through golf courses, leaving frustrated councils calling for a co-ordinated statewide approach to beating the birds.

“They’ve been a huge problem for a number of years, but this year is a bad – or maybe worse – than ever,” Alexandrina mayor Keith Parkes said yesterday.

He said the corellas destroyed trees by stripping them of their leaves and bark, wrecked streetlights, damaged the rigging of yachts moored at Goolwa and even removed thousands of rubber washers from the screws used to secure metal roofs on houses.

Flocks of corellas have invaded urban areas.

He said the council had employed a number of methods to control the corellas, ranging from sound cannons and lasers to drones and trained birds of prey, with limited success.

“We have the authority to shoot the corellas, but obviously that’s something that upsets people and isn’t ideal,” Mr Parkes said.

“We’ve been talking with the Local Government Association about lobbying the State Government for a solution. This is not just a problem for councils, it’s bigger than that. We collect a Natural Resource Management levy on behalf of the Government, and that’s what corellas are - a natural resource.”

Mr Parkes said he believed controlling corellas at nesting sites might be the only way to bring the birds’ numbers under control.

North of Adelaide and the corella situation is much the same, with Playford Council engaging the services of a professional falconer in an attempt to control the birds.

Playford mayor Glenn Docherty backed the call for a statewide approach.

“Each council is doing its bit, but ultimately the corellas are just being dispersed into another council’s area,” Mr Docherty said.

He said Playford Council had been forced to replace streetlight covers after they had been chewed up by the birds, which also caused problems by leaving huge amounts of droppings on the roofs of buildings.

“We’ve hired a falconer to scare them away and used drones and pyrotechnics, with some success,” Mr Docherty said. “But I think the new government needs to look at some tough action.”

Corellas on power lines. Picture: ABC Open / Gemma Deavin

The corellas – loved for their intelligence and playful nature – are drawn to urban areas as they provide the two things they crave – open space and easy water.

According to a UniSA report published last year, river red gums, irrigated green spaces and major creek lines made up 90 per cent of the birds’ habitat in SA.

“As human population density increased so did the occurrence probability of little corellas,” the report said.