Toukley

I’m not big on feeding birds artificially, and have planted lots of flowering trees and shrubs to give them natural food sources, but when picking up dog food I noticed some Wild Lorikeet nectar mix and bought a bag. I put a small amount out yesterday and the resident noisy miners were rather appreciative, and were joined by half a dozen rainbow lorikeets. I took the empty dish away after an hour.

This morning I put some nectar out at around 6:30 am, and came back to get some over-ripe banana and a handful of grapes. By the time I got back to the garden there would have been a hundred lorikeets in the trees, lined up on the fence and taking their turn at the feeders.

The food was all gone within the hour. So I’ve removed and cleaned the dishes. While diseases can be carried by shared feeding dishes, and food can ferment and affect the birds, there seem to be no ill effects from a well managed feeding program.