birding-aus

Re: Mulga parrot eating snails

To: "R.A. & A. Green" <>
Subject: Re: Mulga parrot eating snails
From: "Richard Johnson" <>
Date: Fri, 02 Feb 2001 14:13:56 +1000
Hi Anne

I looked in HANZAB at lunchtime. The good book states that food is 'seeds
of grasses, shrubs and trees; also fruits,flowers, some insect larvae' and
goes on to cite 3 references reporting unidentified insect larvae. Nothing
about snails. I'd encourage you to send in a note on this to a relevant
bird/natural history journal. It's an interesting finding, especially as it
is an observation of eating a novel (introduced) food item. Other parrots
in Australia have benefited from learning to eat introduced food items, but
in their case that was plant material.

"R.A. & A. Green" wrote:

> A couple of people have responded to my posting by asking if Mulga
> parrots normally eat animal food. I assumed that they don't, hence my
> interest when I observed the behaviour, but perhaps someone on the list
> with access to HANZAB can confirm or refute this assumption.
> (I know Black Cockatoos have been recorded extracting and eating grubs
> from under tree bark and pet cockies of various sorts will chew on a
> chop bone or whatever.)
> Regards
> Anne Green
> --
> Atriplex Services: "Working With Nature" Environmental Consultants,
> Growers of native Australian plants, educators.
> http://www.riverland.net.au/~atriplex
> Mailto:
> Visit our Native Plant Nursery at "Fiddlers' Green"
> Blanchetown Road, Morgan, South Australia.
>
> Birding-Aus is on the Web at
> www.shc.melb.catholic.edu.au/home/birding/index.html
> To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message
> "unsubscribe birding-aus" (no quotes, no Subject line)
> to 

--
+----------------------------------------+
Richard Johnson
Habitat Case Studies Project Officer
Qld Parks & Wildlife Service
Southwest District
Tel: (07) 4622 4266  Fax: (07) 46 22 4151
E-mail: 


Birding-Aus is on the Web at
www.shc.melb.catholic.edu.au/home/birding/index.html
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message
"unsubscribe birding-aus" (no quotes, no Subject line)
to 


<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>
Admin

The University of NSW School of Computer and Engineering takes no responsibility for the contents of this archive. It is purely a compilation of material sent by many people to the birding-aus mailing list. It has not been checked for accuracy nor its content verified in any way. If you wish to get material removed from the archive or have other queries about the archive e-mail Andrew Taylor at this address: andrewt@cse.unsw.EDU.AU