I photographed these two young galahs last weekend, in Nielsen Park in Toowoomba. They were being supervised by two other galahs, probably their parents, as they cautiously made their way out of the family nest.
Neilsen Park is a bit of old-growth forest in the middle of suburbia, and what a valuable place it is.
Not many of us would like to have a Eucalyptus of this size in our backyards, so not many of us can offer nursery accommodation to galahs, or to any of the other 17% of Australian bird species which depend on hollows for nesting. Thanks to the park, the residents in surrounding suburbs can enjoy the advantages of having these birds in their gardens.
I understand that we owe the existence of this park to a Toowoomba family, which gifted it to the city. What a wonderful legacy!
Several years ago it was the subject of intensive weed removal by a volunteer group, the Friends of the Escarpment Parks. To them we owe the healthy regrowth of native shrubs and trees which were able to get established as the weeds reduced.
Weedy regrowth is becoming evident, though, and further work is needed. There just aren’t enough volunteers to go round.
We have numerous dead old trees - mainly acacias - on our property, which we all leave in place, as lorikeets & black cockies are nesting in them. Once one of these trees comes down it is being chopped up into firewood to heat the house - but not before all epiphytes (ferns & orchids mainly) have been removed & taken into culture.
ReplyDeleteThat's great, Wolfman.
ReplyDeleteThere is an interesting (dead) tree in a popular inner-city park in Germany, surrounded by a fence to keep the public safe, and with an interpretive sign on it headed "Dead but not Dead". It list the amazing amount of life that depends on dead trees - everything from an very large range of insect species, to orchids which are parasitic on the dead wood.
I'm glad to hear you are not treating your dead trees as rubbish!
Trish