Bully bird

By Melissa Grant
SWOOPING birds have children at a Pakenham kindergarten ducking for cover.
Pre-schoolers at Pakenham Heights Kindergarten are seeking refuge in sandpits and under climbing nets after a grey butcherbird made a tree in a neighbouring park its home.
The troublesome bird is one of many which has residents covering their heads as the breeding season gets underway.
Pakenham Heights Kindergarten president Robyn Wingrove said the butcherbird had tried to swoop countless children since nesting in a tree near the pre-school about six weeks ago.
Upon returning to class after the school holiday period, Mrs Wingrove discovered the bird had moved to a tree even closer to the kindergarten playground.
She said the bird posed a serious threat to a number of children and a number of parents had expressed their concern.
“There’s up to 25 kids in the playground at any one time,” she said.
Teacher Kimberley Taylor said staff had taken as many precautions as possible to ensure the children’s safety.
“We make sure they wear hats. We also tell them to stay in groups and not to play by themselves,” she said.
“They don’t go in the cubby house or on the hill any more.”
Ms Taylor said the butcherbird had been persistent.
“It’s even come in the sandpit,” she said.
Donna Mihokovic said the butcherbird had frightened her four-year-old son, Wayne, so much that he was reluctant to attend the Irving Road kindergarten.
“He told me that he didn’t want to go because the bird was going to get him,” she said.
“The teachers are having to stand outside and shoo it away but it keeps coming back.”
Ms Mihokovic said the bird was particularly aggressive and had even scratched a young girl walking through the park.
“It’s really scary,” she said.
Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) officials said swooping birds were a real problem during breeding season as they instinctively protected their nests, eggs or young from potential intruders.
The DSE said wearing a hat with eyes painted on the back of it, wearing sunglasses backwards or holding a stick or umbrella over one’s head were ways of discouraging swooping.
They said all native birds are protected under the Wildlife Act and that it was illegal to kill birds, destroy their nests or eggs without a permit or authority.
It was possible for birds to be destroyed but only as a last resort, DSE officials said.
Mrs Wingrove said the kindergarten was seeking a licensed controller to remove the bird.