From a friend who works at Swinburne University of Technology in Hawthorn (Melbourne) Wendy
A big flock of (little?) corellas has suddenly flown into Hawthorn from the north-east and parked in a few medium-sized trees in the campus here, making them look a bit like a colony of fruit bats. poor trees look a bit droopy…. I wouldn’t be sitting under them to eat my lunch right at the moment.
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On Wendy’s comment re not eating lunch under a flock of corellas – there is a large roost of thousands of Rainbow Lorikeets in the centre of Palmerston (near Darwin) near the major shopping centre. Every Friday afternoon a food fair is held in the vicinity, and and people using the area have often complained about finding bird droppings in their food and their children’s hair.
When coming to live in Palmerston some years ago I immediately suggested to the Council that the food fair be moved. My immediate concern was that people using the area could contract a number of diseases from air-borne pathogens (dried droppings) and from direct contact. I suggested to Council that they may not be covered by their public liability insurance if a disease outbreak could be traced to the birds, but they don’t seem concerned.
Does anyone know of any similar situations? Denise