Feathered Five Festival Success
Posted on 4 April, 2016 by Connecting Country
The Sunday morning walk was very well attended with nearly 60 people – many of them new to FOBIF walks!
The Mount Alexander region is set to be a little greener and local bird baths a little fuller after our delightful weekend of Feathered Five Festivities (19-20 March 2016). Over 30 participants have pledged to create more bird habitat on their properties and local area, especially along waterways, as a result of the inspiring talks at the Saturday evening forum.
“I’m inspired to improve and expand my birdbath arrangements and to plant lots of varied types and sizes of native trees and shrubs along nature strip and in garden” – Festival Participant
Andrew and Phil inspire the Saturday Evening Forum crowd
Festivals can be many things to many people. For us, it’s about a gathering of people with a shared interest. We are very pleased that the Feathered Five Festival brought together over 260 people who share an interest in the future of woodland birds in this region. Events included the Feathered Five Drive, the Evening Forum and the joint FOBIF and Connecting Country walk.
“My wife and I moved here 18 months ago and this festival weekend was the best weekend we have had since we moved up here! We met so many nice people” – Festival Participant
Thanks to everyone who joined us for a bird walk or the evening forum and for sharing your interest with us, and with each other. Whether you like painting them, spotting them, or creating homes for them – every bit you do makes a difference to helping our woodland birds to thrive.
Bonnie talks plants
We’d also like to especially thank:
- Our speakers – Dr Andrew Bennett and Phil Ingamells who shared with us the current research on how woodland birds are responding to climatic change, and provided some inspiring tips on what we can be doing to help. Check out VicNature 2050 for more information.
- Bonnie, Alex, Jarrod, Asha, Naomi and Tanya who set up some great displays and made themselves available for the evening forum to answer any land management questions from attendees.
- Asha, Kerrie, Jane, Andrew, Frances, Tanya and Kerri for being bird walk leaders (and able assistants).
- Growing Abundance for the tasty tucker.
- The Chat Warblers for the delightful bird-related songs – we especially loved their new ‘feathered five’ number which we will share soon with the Connecting Country community
Judy and Alice Laycock for the delightful bird creations they undertook with the kids. A beautiful way to inspiring the next generation of nature conservationists.- Dean McLaren, our new photographer and Facebook contributor. You can view all of Dean’s photos from the weekend on our Facebook page.
Click here for more information about the festival and the bird lists from the walks.
You can get involved!
The best way to find out more about our local birds and how you can volunteer is via our website – the woodland bird pages includes a printable list of our local birds, data sheets and the Birdwatchers Monitoring Kit. We encourage you to get out there now that the weather is cooler and have a go at some bird surveys! Support is also available to help create bird habitat on your property. Call us on 5472 1594 to find out if you’re eligible.
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