Dusk at the beach, Second Valley

I have written often of the paradise that is Second Valley on South Australia’s Fleurieu Pensinsula. It is idyllic and now regularly written up as one of South Australia’s best beaches. The secret has got out!

Waking in the morning to the sounds of the birds, seeing the odd Kangaroo hop past our back door, it’s lovely but for all of this, we have one true menace. No it’s not the snakes, although the dog and I did see a four foot brown snake slithering down the street a couple of weeks ago, it’s the Cockies (Cockatoos)! There are thousands of them. They squawk raucously, strip the trees of leaves and pine cones and make a mess everywhere.

They are pests and they are eating our beach house!

They’ve moved on from the pine cones!

Not content with shredding endless pine cones it seems they have now moved onto our beach house. I’m serious.

For the 10 plus years we have owned our place we have had sulphur crested cockatoos in the trees and while they have eaten external power cords, got stuck in the chimney, eaten  the cables on our satellite TV dish and got stuck in the TV aerial, it is only this year with the advent of the black ones that we have had damage to the house itself.

They’ve eaten the backdoor. They have eaten one of the bargeboards on the house and some of the balcony roof supports as well as the balcony itself. They are pests yet protected! There are literally millions of them. They are loud and messy and they are everywhere.  The other problem with them is they are very smart. A pest that’s smart, now that’s a problem.

How do you stop them? No use trying owl statues, they quickly work out that they aren’t real. Suggestions would be welcome, but remember they are protected making the obvious solution one that can’t be adopted!

Scaffolding for the workman

The damage bill must be of the order of $10,000. Remedial work care of the insurance company has started, now that they understand that these birds are not pets but are pests.

The cockies are such a nuisance!