I have the small bats they do have a nesting box as one of the hollow trees got torn to bits & the birds have the others. Indian Myna's trying to takeover these nests are shot.

With the drought the black snake moved into the workshop 8ft from my feet bit of a pet, very friendly when she got locked out: No Mice in the workshop.

Still have a few birds, especially at breakfast time, but the population of Flycatchers, Wrens, Kookaburra's & Currawongs, Ducks & some Honey eaters has dwindled. Haven't seen a Curlew here in 50 years, but they once were. Even the creeks have stopped running regularly.

GTC,
Get some prepsol to clean the paint on the car.
Prepsol is what I use to use when I sprayed cars. It will clean the paint safety.
Don't clean plastics with it.
Paint is fine.

Pete

Here in Sydney are Indian Mynas, Pigeons, and Starlings, and some native birds - Rainbow Lorikeets, Noisy Miners, Cockatoos, and a few Magpies, Currawongs and Galahs.

At Hilltop I've chased off the few Myna incursions, so we have lots of Currawongs, Bower Birds and Fairy Wrens, and a few Kookaburras, Magpies, Galahs, Wattle Birds and Cockatoos. We get the occasional Wood Ducks, Peewees and Butcher Birds.

Even though the politically-correct view is to not feed birds, I do it anyway. So the Currawongs, Bower Birds and Wood Ducks enjoy the brown bread very much. The currawongs continue to feed even when the neighbour's cat comes around to visit.

Even though the politically-correct view is to not feed birds, I do it anyway

Next door neighbour woman 'feeds' the birds -- if you can call mountains of white bread bird food. She has been told to stop by the Council because the uneaten bread attracts vermin, but she defies any such orders and we have dozens of Cockatoos hanging around morning and night. When she is away and they don't get fed, they cause havoc, including tearing out our fly screens. I have had to put bird spikes on the window sills to deter them. Said woman is impossible to deal with. I would rate her IQ at 80 on a good day. Whatever she's told goes in one ear and out the other.

Fortunately the only vermin are Indian Myna's. There are sporadically rabbits, however, once they reach a certain size they undergo a metamorphosis and turn into food. Boy rabbits are called Stew, Girls Casserole. Wood ducks are too "gamey": No like.

There is no such thing as food waste here, you just chuck meat waste & such onto a concrete pad under the tank stand & it rapidly disappears. Most of the day & night the verandah is alive with meat ants & they are often over 20 metres from the main nest they set up 5 metres from the verandah south side. That should discourage the termites.

I have heard of one brain dead clown in the town feeding the rats with wings: I like to feed them too, only it is usually a high velocity cluster of pellets.

I don't use white bread, not only do the birds not really like it, but the bread itself is just a conglomeration of sugar and salt. Only brown bread is used at my place. Currawongs will also eat apple cores.

Cockatoos are indeed a real nuisance, I had to chase them away, and only feed the others while the cockatoos were absent. So, I'm very careful about that.

I don't leave piles of uneaten bread around. There might be a few bits left over, but the currawongs will soon come back and eat them. I don't want to encourage mice and other pests.

We do have the very occasional rabbit about, but after I chased them off they didn't come back. I assume the foxes, cats, dogs and snakes in the area finished them off.

If you would like some cockatoo's I have thousands. Whilst I use wholemeal bread, as noted any food will be lucky to last 15min bugs are food; even they will be cleaned up by the marauding "anti matter" of which there are at least 30 mopping up dead insects on the workshop floor around the lights (nothing wasted)

If you have a couple of pet snakes wandering around & a few large lizards there are no Rats & Mice. There are no cats as they are an environmental disaster. Frogs small Lizards, Antechinus, nesting birds (ground & in trees & shrubs) are all cat food.

I did have fun with a cute sales rep from a pet food company. She was checking the super market shelves & I was buying for a neighbour. So I made out I was having trouble finding the right cat food. When asked, naturally I was looking for something different in a flavour the cats were familiar with like , Frog Lizard: Fauna in general....

We have far too many Indian Mynas and Pidgeons here.
The cooing of the Pidgeons drowns out the calls of all the native birds which annoys me greatly.
Not to mention the droppings all over our outdoor patio area.
I bought a plastic owl from the big green hardware store which has an infra red sensor and makes a weird sound unlike any owl I've ever heard.
It's eyes light up too.
Came out the next day and it had bird dropping on it!
Utterly useless.

One difference is that I don't just take out a pile of bread and leave it somewhere for the birds to find. Instead, I'll stand at the back door, the birds (if they are hungry) will land on the ground close by, and i'll throw a piece of bread to each bird in turn. When a bird is satisfied it will fly off, or perhaps go sit in the pergola for a while. Currawongs are highly intelligent (as far as bird intelligence goes), and they know how best to work with me in the feeding routine.

In previous years I've had the wood ducks bring over their ducklings for feeding. While most of them disappear when they grow up, sometimes a duck that I knew as a duckling will come back for a feed or to sit in the pond. Killing them is illegal here, thankfully.

It's good insurance to feed magpies, because then they won't swoop you at breeding time. I can confirm the idea works.

Several years ago indian miners were a nuisance, nesting in a neighbour's roof, gaining access at a corner of the tiled roof. Then they disappeared, and at that time the local mens' shed started selling miner traps. So might be worthwhile following up on that if they are a real nuisance.

At one time I was finding egg shells in a pot plant on my front patio. A bit of a mystery until a currawong flew onto the pot with an egg in its beak. It was followed by a couple of indian miners which sat on the patio rail watching while the currawong broke the egg and ate the contents.

Seems that currawongs usually feed on fruit (love the little red berries on a shrub I forget the name of - not native). But at nesting time they feed their nestlings the eggs and chicks of other birds. So currawongs around have their good points in keeping down the miners, but also predate other birds. So pull out the red berry bushes.

I once tried trapping Indian Mynas and gassing them with CO2 - legal in the LGA the operation was being carried out in. The problem is, as soon as the birds in a neighbouring territory discovers that their competition is gone, they move in and double up on the breeding. The same applies to pigeons, which we couldn't bump off ourselves but used a licenced pest controller to deal with. These birds (the Mynas) first came out here in the 1800s and there isn't a way to kill them off without someone developing a myxomatosis-type virus that targets that species but no other.

My problem with pigeons is that they nest in a large lilli pilli tree in the street that overhangs my drive. The heat from the drive I think keeps them warm at night. They then proceed to crap on the drive, making a mess over time. Sometimes go out and hose into the tree until they fly off.
Have seen magpies beating up pigeons until they vacate the area.

Yes I have a lot of kangaroos and deer near my house but that’s to be expected when you live as rural as I do. I tell you what a deer honking is a sound you’ll never forget! In 2017 when I went on a central trip to Alice via stops like woomera I saw a lot of skinny dying kangaroos with many dead on the side of the road I was quite surprised really. And by the time you get anywhere near Darwin there aren’t any kangaroos whatsoever as I discovered when I went up there in January to do a repeater installation. I must say installing a RFI antenna on a telescopic mast measuring out guide wires etc on top of a 2 story building with 100% humidity with radiant heat off the roof nearly killed me! I have never experienced such heat and humidity in my life! As someone who lives in Victoria I’d prefer to not relive that experience.

For pigeon haters, see if you can track down this song:

Tom Lehrer - Poisoning Pigeons in the Park

Tom Lehrer's intelligent and relevant satire is a favourite of mine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhuMLpdnOjY

Many of these clips were recorded at the university in Copenhagen in the 70s and are transfers from the original B&W videotape.

We'll all go together when we go
The Periodic Table
Vatican Rag
Werner von Braun (make sure you listen to the intro)

and many others. Enjoy!