Phil Joy wrote:
>
> Hi to Everyone,
> Could anyone shed some light on the reason for the behaviour
> of
> the
> Australian Hobby as described to me by Chris Hassell the warden at the
> Broome Bird Observatory.
>
> Chris says:
> At 5pm on 29th July 1997, five hundred metres along the road
> to Willie
> Creek off the Cape Leveque road on the Dampier Peninsula, four of us
> witnessed an Australian Hobby (Falco longipennis) eating dirt, small stones
> and charred wood fragments.
> The Hobby was seen initially at a distance on the road and I stopped the
> car for a close view. Driving slowly forward I got within 1.5 metres of
> the bird before it flew, but only a further 8 metres from our vehicle. The
> bird was reluctant to fly and we initially wondered if it was injured or
> sick.
> We drove forward slowly and got within about 6 metres of the bird. Using
> 8x40 and 10x50 binoculars, we watched as it waddled awkwardly around the
> Pindan dirt road and picked up small stones and pieces of charred wood and
> swallowed them.
> The bird also scraped soil from the road using its lower
> mandible and ate this as well. On at least fifteen different occasions the
> bird seemed to swallow its "prey" and appeared to be using sight to
> identify and select items to eat. The Hobby moved around on the road in
> making its selection and was more reminiscent of a plover than a bird of
> prey.
> After its initial reluctance to fly and after 15 minutes of close views of
> this behaviour the bird suddenly flew off strongly into the woodland. The
> bird was totally undisturbed by our presence and only seemed to leave after
> it had eaten its fill.
Perhaps Shane Raidal can suggest something here? Could the bird have
been eating a diet low in roughage and need the materials mentioned for
healthy pellet formation?
Regards, Anne Green
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