Committee for Lorne: Where do birds go to die?

Do you ever walk along the beach, in the Otway forest, or even just down the main street in Lorne and marvel at our birdlife? 

Birds are everywhere — particularly in Lorne — indeed, so much so that the cockies have rapidly become Town Nuisance #1.  Not only have they learned to prey on our tourists for inappropriate food handouts, but they have learned to raid and scavenge our bins, distributing rubbish from one end of the town to the other. 

Yet, while birds surround us in Lorne in their thousands — indeed, Lorne is a fitting twin to Bodega Bay north of San Francisco, where Alfred Hitchcock filmed his thriller ‘The Birds’ — there is a conundrum.  Why do we so rarely see dead ones? 

An occasional carrion crow or magpie may be collateral road kill where, too intent on picking at a carcass, it has been too slow to escape an oncoming car.  But, when one thinks about it, it is surprisingly rare to find a ‘dead-un’ in the street, the bush, or on the beach.  So, where do birds go to die?

There are several potential explanations, the first being their expected lifespan.  For example, as the average lifespan of a sulphur-crested cockatoo is between 20 and 40 years [let’s say 30], if our local population numbered 900 birds, then in any given year, 30 birds might be expected to slip from this mortal coil … and that’s less than one a week.  Even the Superb Fairywrens live for 5-6 years, so on the same basis, dead wrens would certainly not be thick on the ground. 

New Scientist briefly pondered the question in its weekly issue [19/1/22].  Using their estimate of ~160 million small birds in the UK [a rubbery figure as other estimates range up to 400 million] and assuming an average bird lifespan of two to five years, the author concluded that a small bird dies somewhere in the UK every second.  However, the chances of one dropping out of the sky onto your head are slim indeed.

The New Scientist article and its reader responses added several other reasons:

• “… deceased small birds blend into the background: one could be within a metre or two of one and easily miss it, especially as dying birds [and animals] tend to crawl into hidden spaces — under a bush or into a hole in a tree — and fall asleep, forever.” 

• “… many are eaten by predators with the only remains a small circle of feathers, quickly used by other animals as nesting material.”

• “… we only see dead animals on the road where they [a] haven’t had a chance to crawl away and [b] scavengers can’t easily eat them.  Even then, magpies and crows are generally very good at dodging cars and escaping becoming roadkill.”

• “…  any bird [or animal] weakened by old age, illness or injury is easy meat for its predators and will be so rapidly killed and eaten before it can die of its health problems that the body will rarely be seen.”

• “… furthermore, nature disposes of corpses very quickly. Mammalian scavengers — rats, foxes, domestic and feral cats, quolls, or [in Tassie] Tasmanian devils — insects and their larvae [think flies and maggots], bacteria and fungi all recycle most carcasses within hours to a few days.”

When commenting on the reasons for bird death, Gordon Ramel https://earthlife.net [13/7/23] adds several other important causes. He claims that:

• “… most birds do not die a natural death, with the number one reason behind bird mortality being windows!”  While I find this a little hard to swallow, he cites research to back this claim, including an interesting graphic from https://www.sibleyguides.com/conservation/causes-of-bird-mortality/, though he uses 2003 US data.  He notes that several man-made obstacles can lead to bird death, including windows, mobile phone towers, high-tension wires, cars, wind turbines, and other obstacles.  Expanding further, he maintains that:
• “…  windows provide the main threat. Birds are thought to hit windows when they see their natural habitat reflected in the glass and mistake it for a place to perch or hunt.  Prevention includes reducing or breaking up the window’s reflection.”

• “… collisions often occur in the evening or at night when birds are attracted to light … NB: the 2016 UK FFA Cup Final was briefly halted to allow goalkeeper Danny Vukovic to rescue a seagull that a sharply-crossed soccer ball had felled.  The seagull survived.”

• “… electrocutions of large birds like raptors occur if they contact live electrical wires.  Though the numbers are very small, this threat is significant because the affected bird populations are low.

• “… pesticide poisoning is suspected to kill over 72 million birds/year in the US alone.

While this data is interesting, few, if any, of these causes apply directly to our Lorne birds.  They live in relative safety – except for the ever-present threat of domestic and feral cats. 

In 2021, the Surf Coast Shire surveyed residents to find out “What matters to you most on your coast”.  Interestingly, the risk to native wildlife from cats was a clear third among the many options listed by the Shire.  In response, the Council is changing its policy … a change that I think is a welcome one. 

From 30 September 2023, all cats within the Surf Coast Shire must be confined to their owner’s premises under a 24-hour cat curfew adopted by the Council.  The 24-hour curfew replaces the current one, which requires cats in urban-zoned areas to be securely confined to the owner’s premises between 8pm and 6am.  Note it is now a Shire-wide policy and is not just limited to town boundaries; it requires 24-hour confinement and applies throughout the year.

Residents and visitors should be aware of this new policy.  Under the Domestic Animal Act, cats-at-large can cost their owners a fee of one penalty unit for a first offence and three for further infringements.  From 1 July 2023 to 30 June 2024, the value of the penalty unit is $192.31. 

Learn more at:  https://www.surfcoast.vic.gov.au/Community/Pets-and-animals/Cats.

John Agar

A word from the Chairman