The Gardener's Gudie to the Birds of south east melbourne

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Forget everything you’ve heard about bird-friendly gardening being about hybrid grevilleas and feeding stations. That approach ignores the needs of most birds while increasing the populations of a few aggressive species which then deplete bird diversity even further. 

Many local birds (particularly small birds) are disappearing due to the destruction and degradation of their habitat. Home gardeners can reverse this decline. I am sure that there are thousands of people out there that would be absolutely delighted to share their gardens with the sights and sounds of these beautiful birds and to know that they are, in no small way, helping wildlife to survive in the city.
What has been missing (until now) is the practical information that helps people to do this. 

The Noisy Miner has changed the scene so much that for small birds, parks and creek corridors are now death-traps to be avoided. Residential streets and gardens are now the critical refuges. Many local birds are now largely reliant on the choices we make as gardeners. As more gardens are lost to development, the quality of those remaining becomes ever more important. Please do what you can to help our birds

Here is a full list of birds which regularly use local (inner SE Melb.) gardens as habitat. It is also a useful resource for those wanting to identify local birds. 

Please feel free to get in touch if you have any questions.

Book written and designed by Gio Fitzpatrick

Thank you Andrew McCutcheon, Ryan Barnaby and Ronald Jore for contributing photographs