With a set of strikingly blue pirate patches round his eyes, a smart olive green ‘dinner jacket’ on his back and stylish black hat Gimpy is dressed for success from the outset. He also has the personality to match; Blue Faced Honeyeaters are not known for being shy retiring characters. But there is something else that sets our Gimpy apart from the rest of the feathered rabble.

Gimpy has obviously come a cropper sometime in the past. I’ve known him for a couple of years now and while his missing foot does slow him down a little he is managing okay. I’m not sure how he lost his foot.

Unfortunately, sometimes parent birds collect things like pieces of leftover twine or fishing line to add to their nesting material and perhaps something like this became tangled around his foot as a nestling. Whatever caused his original injury he is a plucky little bloke and is well and truly living life to the fullest as much as he can.

Unfortunately for Gimpy he has perfected his ‘Oliver Twist’ routine as part of his survival strategy and has polished it to perfection around the soft-hearted visitors to Nitmiluk. A few staggering hops here, a little flutter there followed by a flick of his feathers, it’s enough to weaken even the best of us.

While this begging act has led to Gimpy’s life on easy street and possibly even his survival, it has also contributed to his ever-growing waistline. The photo tells the story, a shifty look and a beak covered with crumbs indicates that our Gimpy is getting away with something that will in the end probably lead to his untimely death.

Feeding native birds and animals anything outside of their natural diet is like us trying to live on chips and beer. While it sounds like a great idea, before too long we would find ourselves unwell and realise that vegetables are a sensible diet inclusion. Unfortunately, birds like Gimpy lack an understanding of nutritional guidelines and will gorge themselves on freely available tucker whatever it is.

Help keep our native birds and animals healthy this dry season. Grow native plants in your garden instead of feeding them bread, mince or commercial bird seed.