Just caught the late night news about this and decided to track down the article.

 

http://www.thewest.com.au/default.aspx?Men...ontentID=117875

Thats is both amazing and very sad. I am amazed that the birds came inside for shelter. Their need for self preservation must have overcome their fear of man.

what an interesting article, thank you so much for sharing

that is so sad

Oh poor little things, how awful...

awww what a pity. that's a real shame...

That's so sad

awww.....that is so sad

Its sad, but I love that second photo!!

yeah me too Hills, that's a lot of Budgies

Yeah it is very sad but part of the Australian way of life. I have stayed at the Overlander and the worked through that area in 2007. Water is scare as is food. The sheep and goats plus lack of water have really taken its toll on that area. There are no dams up there everything comes out of ground into tanks. The Overlander is not exactly running over with water it is highly rationed there.

Edited January 15, 200916 yr by RIPbudgies

Wow, poor birds. I'm so glad so many people stepped in to try and help the birds though.

I saw that too, it's so sad I know its a part of life but that doesn't make it any less upsetting when it happens.

 

Here's an interesting thought though:

We all know budgies are noisy little creatures (lol) but yesterday my two babies were by far the rowdiest they'd ever been. They just would not stop squawking and carrying on. After seeing the story about the birds dying on the news my hubby wondered out loud whether our birds somehow sensed that something was wrong. At first I just laughed, but it got me thinking. Budgies certainly aren't dumb.

 

What do other people think??

I was working up there just after the cyclone went through last year, water and seeding grasses everywhere. One station had feed for the first time in 6 years.

The birds were going mad breeding all along the rivers in the gums, spinifex and buffel grass thick and long. I brought back kg's and kg's of seed for my birds. Rivers were running (good for swimming and bathing after a long day) and all looked fantastic. But the water soon disperses and the grasses dry up and you are left on the hot open plains again. It transforms quickly and the heat up there in summer -you cant get away from it. Where there is still water, there is not much feed due to cattle, and where theere is still feed its a fair way from water so its hard on them either way. Its natures way of thinning the numbers out of animals that breed so quickly in big numbers.

 

Amazing photos though