birding-aus

Poisonous Aussie birds.

To: "'Tony Russel'" <>, "'Dave Torr'" <>, "'Stephen Ambrose'" <>
Subject: Poisonous Aussie birds.
From: "Stephen Ambrose" <>
Date: Wed, 16 May 2012 15:03:46 +1000
My understanding is that farmed emus are fed a diet similar to poultry feed,
supplemented with lucerne and other pasture crops.

Stephen Ambrose
Ryde NSW



-----Original Message-----
From: 
 On Behalf Of Tony Russel
Sent: Wednesday, 16 May 2012 2:33 PM
To: 'Dave Torr'; 'Stephen Ambrose'
Cc: 'Birding Aus'
Subject: Poisonous Aussie birds.

Hm!  I must remember to ask where it came from next time Emu appears on a
menu. "Hey garcon, has this bird been feeding on Gastrolobium ?"  "Oh yes
Sir, of course it has, that's part of the regular diet at the Emu farm."

Tony

-----Original Message-----
From: 
 On Behalf Of Dave Torr
Sent: Wednesday, 16 May 2012 1:48 PM
To: Stephen Ambrose
Cc: Birding Aus
Subject: Poisonous Aussie birds.

Interesting observation Stephen - since Emu is not an uncommon meat in some
of the "native game" restaurants in some parts of Aus then hopefully someone
knows the answer - although I guess they are probably farmed rather than
wild ones?

On 16 May 2012 14:06, Stephen Ambrose <> wrote:

> The poison in Gastrolobium is sodium fluoroacetate (also known as 
> 1080). In Australia, natural occurrences of sodium fluoroacetate 
> occurs mostly in Gastrolobium species, and nearly all species in this 
> genus are restricted in distribution to South-western Australia.  
> Twigg & King (1991) found that Emus also had a high tolerance to the 
> poison when feeding on Gastrolobium seeds, but I don't know if it 
> accumulates in the Emu's body, is metabolised or excreted.
>
> Stephen Ambrose
> Ryde, NSW
>
> Reference:
>
> Twigg, L.E. & D.R. King (1991).  The impact of fluoroacetate-bearing 
> vegetation on native Australian fauna: a review. Oikos 61: 412-430
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: 
>  On Behalf Of Steve 
> Clark
> Sent: Wednesday, 16 May 2012 9:49 AM
> To: Sonja Ross; Birding Aus; 
> Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Bass Straight migrants and poisonous Aussie 
> birds
> - birdng myths?
>
> G'day Sonja and Anthea
>
> Thanks for your replies.
>
> I'm aware of the Gastrolobium poison bush in WA.  Anthea has turned up 
> this reference
>
> http://www.publish.csiro.au/?act=view_file&file_id=MU942057.pdf
>
> which is good evidence that the pigeons accumulate poison from the 
> seeds of Gastrolobium bilobum in Western Australia.
>
> Further questions:
>
> Has anyone ever extracted poison from a Bronzewing and analysed it?
> What is the situation in other parts of the Bronzewings' range?
> Why are Pitohuis claimed to be the first known poisonous birds?  This 
> article mentions others (including Bronzewings):
>
>
> http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Publications/ZooGoer/2001/2/intoxnewguineabi
> rds.cf
> m
>
> It seems that others were known or suspected earlier but the chemical 
> in Pitohui poison was the first to be identified.
>
> There appears to be no conclusive evidence that Flame Robins migrate 
> across Bass Strait unless Anthea can track down the unpublished 
> research of Balmford and Dennett.  I wouldn't be at all suprised if 
> they do cross the Strait but it would be nice to have evidence.
>
> Cheers
> Steve
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