Adelaide City Council backflips on netting trees in CBD, after bird migration blunder

An SA council has backflipped on its decision to net trees along a popular CBD street, after birds were filmed dropping dead. WARNING: Distressing footage.

* WARNING: Distressing imagery and descriptions

Adelaide City Council has backflipped on a decision to apply netting to trees in a popular CBD street, preventing birds from roosting there, after footage emerged of the animals dropping dead in Rundle Mall.

In August last year, the council attempted to deter 10,000 tree martins from flocking to Leigh Street’s semi-mature callery pear trees, by wrapping them with netting, after the birds started becoming a risk to public health.

The birds had since been displaced, and last week, a video shared to social media by Wild Animals Australia, an animal activist group, showed a flock of tree martins flying into shop front windows, seriously injuring themselves and dying.

Tiny 15 gram tree martins are suffering critical injuries after flying into the Apple Store in Rundle mall. Picture: Wild Animals Australia.

The injuries included broken necks, broken jaws and ruptured eyes. Picture: Wild Animals Australia.

Some of the birds were lying on the ground motionless, some were struggling to fly away, while others were “smashing into the windows” of the Apple store and other shopfronts.

On Tuesday, Mayor Jane Lomax-Smith said the council would remove netting from “a number of trees” to allow the birds to return, and take other measures, such as refining lighting in Rundle Mall to help the birds navigate city buildings from tomorrow.

“The City of Adelaide is working closely with city traders to improve the welfare of tree martins during their annual roosting season in the CBD,” she said.

“We are particularly grateful to Green Adelaide’s presiding member Professor Chris Daniels who I met this morning to help develop actions, which will start being implemented tomorrow.”

New measures to be put in place also include engaging an ornithologist to monitor the roosting events to help inform decision making around bird migration and prevention measures.

Last week, the birds were roosting on the trees across from the Apple store, before abruptly fleeing and slamming into the reflection of the glass shop front – which was significantly lit from the inside and mirrored the outside trees – causing serious injuries.

Bird poop in Leigh St, Adelaide CBD, in March 2024. Picture: Ben Clark

Tree Martins taking refuge in a Leigh St tree. Picture: Craig Greer.

Four people in hi-vis jackets – one wearing a logo from SA Native Animal Rescue – were picking up the birds that had collapsed at the edge of the store entrance.

“This is a sight of an ongoing mass crisis event for one of Australia’s tiniest migratory native birds,” Wild Animals Australia wrote on the Facebook post.

“The mortality rate is now in the high hundreds if not thousands as it has been happening for weeks.”

The Animal activist group blamed Adelaide City Council for their inaction to help the migratory birds and for netting nearby trees that were “home to these birds for over ten years”.

“They are “in talks” and “making plans” to address this horrific event but not one single strategy is in place after at least two months,” they wrote.

“Tiny 15 gram tree martins are suffering critical injuries including broken necks, broken jaws and ruptured eyes in the city centre of Adelaide because they have been displaced from roosting spots by a council who netted the nearby trees.”

The group also claimed unsuspecting shoppers on Rundle Mall were accidentally “standing on them” as they walked down Rundle Mall.

Originally published as Adelaide City Council backflips on netting trees in CBD, after bird migration blunder