-----Original Message-----
From: Julian Robinson [
Sent: Monday, 21 December 2009 10:08 PM
To: martin butterfield; COG List
Subject: Grey Shrike-thrush 1, spider 0
You might already know about the study that demonstrates
that at
least some birds deliberately feed their chicks spiders
at particular
stages of development to increase Taurine intake. This
is unrelated
to the availability of spiders but directly related to
the age of the
chicks (5 days for the Blue Tits studied). The theory is
that
Taurine improves/affects personality, risk taking,
learning ability
and stress resistance in birds as well as mammals.
Spiders are
specially rich in Taurine. I've many times seen birds
feeding chicks
on spiders which is why I first looked the matter up,
it's quite interesting.
http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/274/1625/2563.full
Julian
At 08:26 PM 21/12/2009, martin butterfield wrote:
>Another resident of Carwoola mentioned that he had a
Grey
>Shrike-thrush nesting in his garage. After 25
minutes squatting
>under a pile of hay-bales I captured an adult coming
in to feed the
>2 chicks (one egg didn't hatch). I was intrigued to
see the food
>was a large spider.
>
>Last year the birds nested on the verandah of the
house with an
>elegant stringybark nest fitted in to a smallish
basket.
>
>This was part of a day un the locality which also
included finding
>Little Pied Cormorant nests in willows in the
Molonglo and a Brown
>Goshawk nest with a well developed chick sitting
beside it.
>
>Martin
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