WHEN: 3.00 – 4.30pm Saturday 21st June 2020
WHERE: Lecture Theatre & Gallery, Qld College of Art. Click for map
This is a Free Public Event before the start of Wildlife Tourism Australia’s national conference. Conference delegates and members of the public all welcome.
Do you love feeding birds at home?
Do you enjoy getting “up close and personal” with different birds while visiting new places?
Close encounters with wildlife (such as bird feeding) can create very special and memorable experiences, but they can also cause problems. This forum will consider both backyard feeding and feeding at tourist sites, and examine questions such as:.
- What does the research tell us about bird-feeding?
- Why do people like feeding birds?
- Can it help the birds?
- What problems can be caused by feeding birds?
- Do close encounters such as bird feeding encourage people to support conservation?
- When and where is it okay to feed them?
- When, where and why is it not okay?
- If we are to feed birds, what guidelines should we follow?
Attendees will hear short introductory talks by our panel members:
- Professor Dr Darryl Jones (Griffith University), longterm researcher of bird ecology and behaviour and author of “The Birds at My Table” and “Feeding the Birds at Your Table“
- Dr Michelle Plant, senior Biodiversity Officer and Wildlife Interactions Consultant, who has conducted research on feeding of wild birds at O’Reilly’s Rainforest Retreat (where crimson rosellas and king parrots have been fed for decades by visitors) and the Bunya Mountains. See guidelines by Michelle
- Anthony Molyneux, Wildlife Manager at Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary, where lorikeets have been fed by visitors for decades. Quoting from Linked-In, Anthony has been “[a]ctive in the Wildlife industry for over 27 years with a focus on native animal behaviour, community engagement and creating an awareness of nature.”
We will then throw open to questions from the attendees directed to our three panelists.
