Most important is to realize that we share our backyard, surrounding, land, water, air with an amazing number of native wildlife. That’s why we would like to give you a couple of tips.
Living with Wildlife in your backyard
There are a couple of easy things you can do in your backyard to make life a little bit easier for our native animals:
– plant native plants, trees, shrubs & grasses.
– Keep your domestic cats and dogs inside, especially at night.
– Offer water in a bird bath or set up a pond.
Possum
- Leave some trees in the area.
- Put up a possum box in a tree if you have possums around.
- If there is a possum living in your roof, block all entries to the roof once the possum has left the roof cavity at night.
- Don’t put rat baits in the roof. Possums like the taste and this can cause severe internal bleeding and a slow, painful death.
Frillies
- Think about your garden if you have enough woodland and a combination of open areas and grass.
- Use old trees or branches to create a living area and offer a food source as it will attract other animals.
- Be a responsible pet owner and have restricted areas for these habitat.
- Trap and remove feral cats and cane toads from your property
- Avoid using pesticides on your property
More tips from Land for Wildlife
How to prevent….
Window strikes
Large glass surfaces such as windows and sliding doors reflect trees and sky. This often makes birds think there is no solid barrier and they can fly right through. The speed at which birds fly can cause serious injury upon impact, usually head trauma, broken wing or neck . If a bird has hit a window, is motionless on the ground, not able to fly up, rescue and contain the bird, and call a wildlife carer or bring it to us.
Do not leave it outdoors as it is very vulnerable to attack by other animals.
– Hang something in your window.
– Put a sticker on your window or cover part of the window.
– Place bird feeders and water sources away from windows and glass doors.
Motor vehicles
In Darwin we have wildlife activity especially at dusk and dawn all year around, and unfortunately, some collisions are unavoidable when wildlife flies and hits your car or runs into the road in front of you. However, many collisions can be avoided by practicing some preventative driving.
– Include quick scans to the roadsides ahead while driving.
– Be extra alert if there’s a lot of vegetation along the road.
– Slow down in the evening or avoid driving.
– Observe speed limits, so you and animals have a better chance at avoiding collisions.
– Slow down if you see an animals that start to cross or are in the road. Give it an extra moment to get out of harm’s way.
– If you see birds of prey on the road, slow down, stop, and allow the bird time to fly away. They are slow to move out of the way, often getting hit by impatient drivers.