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Hi all,
At 1:00 pm today, I was driving along Parkwood Road, near the Belconnen
golf course, when about six small birds swooped across in front of me, about a
metre above the road. Unfortunately, Splat! I hit one.
I stopped and extracted a dead Welcome Swallow from the grille. I
parted the breast feathers and promptly dropped it because there were several
little creepy-crawly critters ranging through the plumage, close to the
skin.
Then I parted the plumage with the blade of my pocket knife and inspected
about four creepie-crawlies. They were quite flat things, probably less than a
millimetre thick. They were of roundish shape, about three millimetres in
diameter and light brown.
I went to the console box where I usually keep plastic bags and elastic
bands. Occasionally, I pick up a freshly-killed bird on the road, pop it into a
plastic bag, stick it in the freezer and phone CSIRO to see if they would
like to have it.
But when I got there, the box was bare, so I left the swallow in the
roadside weeds. No doubt it will provide sustenance for the local ants.
Normally, I don't mind sharing the cab with a fresh road-kill, but I needed a
plastic bag in this instance because I didn't want the creepies crawling about
in the seat covers. Sometimes, if a road-kill isn't leaky, you can wrap it
in several sheets of The Canberra Times. To this end, I hope
The Times retains its broadsheet format.
OK, so are there any experts on avian ectoparasites out there?
Bye
John K. Layton.
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