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A $1700 machine has saved Worrigee Links golf course from falling victim to the now annual Nowra corella invasion.
Five years ago when the feeding marauders first started to make their presence felt around Nowra, the corellas were constantly attacking greens at the Shoalhaven Ex-Servicemen’s Sports Club at Worrigee, causing huge amounts of damage.
Golf course staff tried various methods to scare the birds away, from blowing horns on their vehicles while out on the course to even walking the course letting off the caps in starters’ pistols.
But the installation of a moveable solar-powered mirrored prism called Eagle Eye, which sends out a flash of light that scares the birds, appears to have solved the problem.
Assistant greens superintendent Chris Regan said the Eagle Eye had been a revelation.
“We can move it to three different locations around the course depending on where the birds are targeting,” he said.
“It’s been fantastic. We have watched the birds just fly over.”
He said the Eagle Eye cost around $1700 and had certainly been money well spent.
“They can decimated a green in a matter of minutes,” he said.
“They just dig the greens up and can destroy them in around five minutes.
“To replace just the green surface can range from between $8000 to $12,000.”
Mr Regan said the only drawback was the prism only works when the sun is out.
“The corellas have targeted the cricket oval and lately they have been into the Telstra tower, eating whatever they can,” he said.
“It just seems to be a fun game to them.
“As we understand it it is mainly the juveniles who cause most of the damage.”
Mr Regan has noticed an increase in the size of the corella flock as they fly over.
“There are hundreds if not thousands of them,” he said.
“The flock is that big they are still flying over the course even though the lead birds have crossed over Lyrebird Park.”