FINCHforum

does anyone ever harvest and feed their birds casuarina seed pods? Locally we have wild european gold finches that swarm the threes and eat the pods so I was wondering if anyone has harvested and supplied the pods to their birds? also figured the needles of the tree would make decent nesting material? any input?

Not something we come across in the UK....sorry

That's a tropical tree. Doesn't grow anywhere within 2 thousand miles of where I live.

any Australians have any experience with this?

Have thought about it,At this point seems a little time consuming.have a couple in the front yard,I collected some and dried them out, but over did the drying so have not tried again.The black cockys love them though they come and collect them.Check out this site for info on them.http://www.cliftonfinchaviaries.org/articles.html

I tried it after noticing red browed finches and diamond firetails feeding on them in the wild near where I live. My finches ate them but didn't seem overly fussed about it. Given the choice they would still much prefer fresh seeding grass. As gomer said, very time consuming. One bucket of seed pods equals around one cup of seed. I do see the merits of feeding the higher end firetails with casuarina seed, as these aren't as domesticated and would enjoy more of a natural diet.

that's when I will have another go when I get the redeared and beautiful firetails.