Complaints about destructive ‘flight path’ of wild birds at luxe QLD estate

A resident at a swanky Queensland estate has been ordered to stop feeding ‘plague proportions’ of wild birds after complaints about their destructive flight path over neighbouring homes.

A resident at a swanky Gold Coast residential estate has been ordered to not feed “plague proportions” of wild birds after numerous complaints about their “shrieking, swooping and pooping” flight path of destruction.

The Sanctuary Cove Principle Body Corporate (SCPBC), which oversees the multimillion-dollar Hope Island development, took action against Sue Dorothy Grey after receiving multiple complaints from neighbours and security guards at the millionaire’s playground.

In a decision published by the Office of the Commissioner for Body Corporate and Community Management, the adjudicator found in favour of the body corporate and ordered that Ms Grey cease feeding the wild birds for two years.

A woman has been ordered not to feed wild birds within the estate for two years. Picture: Alex Coppel.

The body corporate accused Ms Grey of general nuisance as a result of her feeding the native birds, encouraging corellas in particular to “congregate in the area and disturb other residents with their noise, faeces and food scraps”.

Ms Grey did not deny feeding the wild birds, according to the decision.

She did however submit that there was a lot of green spaces within Sanctuary Cove that attracted wildlife and birds, and that a certain amount of bid activity should be expected.

The decision said that Biodiversity Australia (BA) had been engaged by the body corporate on several occasions to disperse the corellas, and had reported that the birds were attracted to the pines and greens on the golf courses, and to (a particular section) because “a local resident feeds them”.

“BA could find no natural food source for the corellas near Ms Grey’s residence and recommended, inter alia, that residents stop feeding the birds,” the decision said.

To support their application, the body corporate submitted a number of written accounts from residents and security guards.

Biodiversity Australia found no natural food sources for the birds within Sanctuary Cove. Picture – Supplied

One claimed Ms Grey fed the birds twice a day, causing them to remain around the area “24/7” dropping excrement on washing, windows, pool, house walls and the road.

Another complainant emailed in May 2020 that the corellas were back after a three week reprieve “with their continual shrieking and swooping and poop”.

That neighbour said that her house, and others nearby, were beneath their “flight path” and the noise ran from before dawn to after dark.

Chairman of the body corporate committee for Cassia, Peter Cohen, in an email to the SCPBC, said residents had been complaining for “years” about the “noise, debris and potential health hazards of the flocks of hundreds of corellas that inhabit the parks most hours of the day and night”.

The body corporate reported complaints about the birds had spanned over ‘years’.

He said, in that correspondence, that he had “no doubt” that the feeding of the birds by Ms Grey had led those birds to spend extended time around the two parks near her home.

Another resident referred to “Bird Lady’s constant feeding” and their “plague proportions”, while another reported seeing the wild birds leaving Ms Grey’s residence with “human food in their beaks”.

That neighbour said the noise from the birds was enough to make conversation or watch television difficult.

A security guard, who submitted an affidavit on September 9 last year, claimed noise measurements taken on April 17 and 18 had recorded results of between 44 and 94 decibels.

Neighbours about 800m away also claimed they could easily hear the birds and had witnessed their” mess and smell” whenever they drove through the area.

The adjudicator found in favour of the complainants and the body corporate.

Ms Grey dismissed all of the complaints, arguing there was no evidence.

But the adjudicator found in favour of the complainants and the body corporate.

“While BA’s dispersal programs have apparently been effective, the birds return, likely because Ms Grey continues to feed them,” the adjudicator said.

“Several residents described the mess left by the birds and I have no reason to suspect they were collaborating in a deceit.

“It is more likely that their accounts agree because they all witnessed the same reality.”

The adjudicator made no findings in relation to the affects the birds were having on public health, but said Mr Grey was “at least causing an unreasonable annoyance to other residents”.

Homes in the area regularly go for north of $2 million, with many millionaires and celebrities calling the Sanctuary Cove development home.

The exclusive gated community is also home a marina, 5-star resort, shopping and dining precincts, golf courses, a country club and the Sanctuary Cove International Boat Show.