Community wildlife program - workshop with Christ The King School
The Community Wildlife Program provides an opportunity for local schools and community members to work with the PTP Alliance projects to help enhance wildlife habitat in the local community. We bring our projects, zoologists and local schools and community groups together to provide information sessions about urban ecologies and how to attract native birds and other wildlife into the local area and residents’ back yards.
Team members from the Oaklands Crossing Grade Separation project visited Christ The King School to present an interactive information session and a bird bath painting and decoration workshop, with students from years 3 and 4.
Team members from the project’s environmental team and community engagement team conducted a presentation and interactive discussion about the different native birds found in the Adelaide region, as well as wider Australia.
The presentation touched on the many varieties of local birds, their physical advantages and disadvantages, as well as their social, living and feeding behaviours and practices. The students had many bird stories to share of their own and plenty of questions around birds and wildlife.
After the presentation students painted and decorated terracotta pots which, when assembled together, make up durable land based bird baths. Timber bird baths were also constructed and donated to the workshop by Minda Inc employees, which can be attached to the sides of trees or buildings.
Minda Inc. contains a Commercial Enterprises unit which provides supported employment opportunities for people living with a disability. Some of the services that Minda Inc offer include packaging, landscaping, furniture construction, laundry and catering. A huge thank you to the team at Minda Inc who set aside time in their days to construct the timber bird baths and donate them to the project’s environmental workshop!
The students spent the afternoon outside getting creative with their painting of the bird baths. During this time, the project’s environmental team located and discussed the most suitable areas within the school grounds for these bird baths to be installed. As each student was also given a bird bath to take home, suggestions were also made for the placement of bird baths in their gardens.
A couple of bird baths will also be installed around the Oaklands Crossing project area, to attract native bird wildlife.
Thank you to Bunnings Marion who kindly shared some of their community budget for the terracotta pots.
Further information on Minda Inc’s Commercial Enterprises can be found at:
