KNYSNA NEWS - Following the fires, I noticed a massive increase in birdlife in my parent’s garden in Knysna. The birds were frantically feeding, polishing off far more food than usual and fighting over feeders.
So I decided to appeal to as many companies as I could find, asking for assistance with bird feeders, seed, nesting boxes, bird houses – really anything that could help the Garden Route’s littlest fire victims.
Elaine from Elaine’s Birding and Wildlife products phoned me almost immediately with offers to assist.
She sent well over 400 suet and fruit feeders, nesting boxes and a mountain of suet feed, an amazing donation from one company.
I then asked her where we could get nectar feeders as the birds were really fighting over them.
Being the angel that she is, she went straight to work and made us 100 nectar bottles and sent us even more suet, plus more fruit feeders.
Her incredible generosity also sparked donations from other generous individuals who purchased extra feeders, suet and nectar bottles from Elaine to assist us.
Help with logistics
The biggest hurdle was the logistics of getting the donations here as fast as possible because all means of transport were flooded with relief aid for people and pets.
Thankfully Spartan Truck Hire came to the party by bringing everything down from Pretoria, and they kept it all aside so it didn’t get lost among the tons of general donations.
We distributed the feeders in Plettenberg Bay and Knysna by requesting that people become “feeder guardians” and remain committed to keeping the feeders stocked and the birds fed until their natural habitat recovers and they can return.
Everyone who has been feeding, have said that they have been inundated with hungry birds and are battling to keep up.
Click here to view a photo gallery.
Guardians to the rescue
To give you some idea, some people were feeding up to 15 litres of nectar per day!
In order to help them with these unimaginable demands, we also facilitated donations of fruit, sugar, bird seed, mealworms and, most recently, nesting bags of feathers to help the birds rebuild their nests now that it’s spring.
Only now, over three months later, are some people starting to see a decrease in the feeding, while others say it hasn’t slowed down at all.
The really wonderful thing that has come out of this is how much joy people are getting from the birds returning.
It’s really therapeutic to hear them chirping and it gives people hope that there is still life after the fires.
People who have lost everything have come to get feeders from me to help the other little fire victims who also lost their homes.
People have messaged Elaine saying they have been battling with depression since the fires and the birds give them a reason to get up every morning.
Social media's role
All of this was done via our Facebook page (Garden Route Birds) where people have been sharing their bird stories, posting photos and videos, and generally just creating awareness that the birds are still here but they need our help.
I had no previous knowledge of birds and people had so many questions and needed sound advice.
Dr Mark Brown from Nature's Valley Trust got involved behind the scenes as “our local bird boffin” and has been unbelievably supportive offering me invaluable knowledge and advice whenever I needed it.
He noticed the awareness that we had created and has since joined me as admin on the Facebook page, as we begin to move from immediate fire relief into a more long-term page for our birds. It is an honour to have him on board.
Going forward, we wish to grow the page offering truthful information that specifically relates to our Garden Route birds.
Everyone’s continued engagement and sharing creates awareness, which in turn helps to conserve our beautiful birds.
A huge thank you to everyone who got involved in helping us, even in the smallest way.
I always said that no one can help all the birds, but everyone can help some of the birds – and we did! Our Garden Route birds are so lucky to have so many caring people looking out for them. – Rozanne Fleet
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