Little Corellas

Little Corellas are a common parrot in many parts of South Australia – and in other parts of Australia too. Flocks numbering in the hundreds and sometimes in the thousands are relatively common. The noise of a flock of five hundred to a thousand can be deafening as they fly overhead.

Pests

Both Little and Long Billed Corellas can become a pest species when they gather in such large numbers. Not only do they destroy grain crops they can cause a great problem in other ways, such as stripping leaves and bark from native trees and even damaging buildings and power lines. When they get to pest proportions like this people not only get upset with their raucous noises, they start counting the cost of the damage to property.

Calls for Culling

From time to time there are reports in newspapers and on television programmes for these beautiful birds to be culled. One such report was on our news last night. One local football club has had extensive damage caused by corellas to their light towers which are used on training nights.

I don’t believe culling will achieve much as it is a short term “solution.” It’s a perplexing and perennial problem – and I don’t have the answer. It just saddens me that people get to such a state that culling seems to be the only course of action.