Noisy Miners

Noisy Miners are much misunderstood.

They have a mob mentality that drives away other birds, animals, and they will swoop and heckle humans too.

Despite being a native woodland bird, Noisy Miners have become invasive. Due to habitat loss there's not enough forest to go around, and because of their territorial tendencies and group mentality, they have started to dominate. The repercussion of this imbalance is that other woodland birds are suffering, and we have seen a decline in many other bird species.

For me, the Noisy Miner represents imbalance. An imbalance that is a reflection of our own greed, and our inability to consider our impact on the environment. Balance is the key to sustainable life. We have lost the key somewhere along the way, and quite simply, like some of the endangered woodland birds, we too will face extinction unless we rediscover it.

The Noisy Miner is a living, heckling reminder of our own disrespect for nature. Its urgent and piercing call complains: "stop being greedy or we will be greedy too".

We, humans, are nature too. We are not separate from it. We must return to this truth.

How could we not care for the environment, when we are the environment? And we are 100% utterly dependant on it to sustain us - the air we breathe, water we drink, food we eat. Humanity will not survive in an unbalanced ecosystem. When we look after nature, we look after ourselves.

What does being in balance with the natural world feel like to you? Could finding more ways to care for nature elevate your sense of belonging in your natural environment?