Fourth Radford birdhouse finds a home

By Mrs Mackenzie Perfect, Junior School Teacher

Last year, Year 3 and 4 Radford Awareness and Service (RAS) Junior students identified that our native birds needed some improvements to their habitat options. As serendipity would have it, Secondary School Science Teacher Ms Tracey Craze had shared information about a local and sustainable habitat company, Habitat Innovation and Management. Through the Radford grapevine, RAS students caught wind of it and began the process of writing a proposal with gusto.

Fast forward to last Wednesday, we received a call from Radford Facilities Manager, Mr Craig Webber, notifying us that the birdhouses had arrived and were being installed that very day! As there are specific requirements for the installation of the birdhouses, Mr Webber spent considerable time locating the appropriate trees and engaging an arborist to mount the houses at least six metres high on the trunk.

As the fourth birdhouse was being installed on the Junior School Heart Tree, a handful of the 2024 RAS group were hastily brought together to witness the installation. What began as a simple idea to repair some existing bird feeders, became a longer-term and more sustainable reality.

The four Radford birdhouses are located near the Morison Centre, Gibbons Pavillion, The Chapel and the Junior School Heart Tree. We hope the native birds find these new safe habitats with ease and that we may have even played a small part in the protection of the swift parrot.

The swift parrot is a critically endangered, migratory bird that makes the journey towards the ACT, NSW and Victoria when the weather cools in Tasmania each winter and where they lay their eggs in the warmer months. Loss of habitat is a key factor in the significant decline in numbers and makes the actions our Junior School students have taken even more admirable.