Hi Stephen
This is an interesting observation - do you know if there is anything
in the literature about it? Sorry, I am being lazy! I should look for
myself but you would know better than me. Also, do you think there is
any way of distinguishing "impaling" behaviour from "wedging"? That
is, do you that it is possible to tell if sometimes butcherbirds
"choose" to wedge, and at other times impale their prey? Again, I
wonder if there is anything in the literature on birds choosing one
strategy over another - in any species. I know some species have
developed amazing repertoire of behaviours, but I am interested in
whether or not they can select between them.
Regards
Russell
Russell Woodford
On 17/05/2010, at 5:15 PM, Stephen Ambrose wrote:
Not long at all. It tried securing the food in one part of the tree
initially. In that first instance, it did look as if it was trying
to wedge it into a fork, but not very successfully. After about 2
minutes it gave up trying this first location and moved to another
part of the tree where the prey item was definitely impaled. That
took at least another 2 minutes at a guess (wasn't timing, just too
interested in observing what was happening). It probably took that
long because the carcass looked a bit cumbersome to handle, rather
than it being difficult to impale. For the next 10 minutes the bird
tugged at the flesh, flying off at least twice before returning to
the carcass to feed again.
Stephen Ambrose
Ryde NSW
-----Original Message-----
From: Peter Shute
Sent: Monday, 17 May 2010 5:00 PM
To: ;
Cc:
Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] RE: Grey Butcherbird Larder: comment on
impaling again...........
It must surely take some effort and skill to get the bird onto the
twig. Did it take it very long?
Peter Shute
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