canberrabirds

Re: FW: [canberrabirds] article in The Australian about Orange-footed Sc

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Subject: Re: FW: [canberrabirds] article in The Australian about Orange-footed Scrubfowl
From: Robin Hide <>
Date: Sat, 29 Dec 2012 23:57:55 +1100
A footnote on megapode edibility..
Geoffrey is correct as regards areas (ie parts of New Britain) with huge communal egg-laying grounds where the eggs are the main target of humans (30,000 eggs taken in a season!), and the birds can be protected. However elsewhere as large sized birds weighing 0.5-1.5 kg, some megapodes are (or were) widely hunted for their meat in New Guinea (as well as Groote Eylandt in Australia - in the past) .

There is however one oddity - Jared Diamond records that the flesh of Megapodius freycinet and Talegalla jobiensis putrefies rapidly after death, developing a repugnant stench.  He notes a Solomon Island tradition of the need for very rapid cooking....

Robin.
.

On 29/12/2012 6:25 PM, Geoffrey Dabb wrote:

Good to eat, Peter?  The Romans regarded them as a delicacy, and a status symbol, and served them with their own feathers.  As to megapodes, I believe they are generally not eaten, but left to produce their large eggs, which are valued as a food item.  At Rabaul they take the eggs from nests in warm sand at the base of volcanoes on the outskirts of that picturesque town.  Emi nambawan kaikai

 

http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/tt/a76d8/

 

 

From: Peter Ormay [m("dodo.com.au","peterormay");">]
Sent: Saturday, 29 December 2012 5:29 PM
To: Geoffrey Dabb; m("canberrabirds.org.au","canberrabirds");">
Subject: Re: [canberrabirds] article in The Australian about Orange-footed Scrubfowl

 

Are they good to eat? I mean the peafowl. If they are and the word got around the population may dwindle away before they become too much of a nuisance.

----- Original Message -----

Sent: Friday, December 28, 2012 6:39 PM

Subject: FW: [canberrabirds] article in The Australian about Orange-footed Scrubfowl

 

Furthermore, a ‘swap’ is unlikely to be feasible.  The scrubfowl is a stay-at-home.  According to ‘Introduced Birds of the World’, now somewhat dated, there have been no successful (or even unsuccessful) introductions of the scrubfowl.  Peafowl have been introduced in various places, including in California – at Palos Verdes Estates, Rolling Hills, and Portuguese Bend.  You would hear them in old Tarzan movies, had those not been made on the other side of the USA -  at Morgan Island, Louisiana, haunt of the Laughing Kookaburra.   

 

From: Bob Rusk [m("rocketmail.com","bobrusk");">]
Sent: Friday, 28 December 2012 4:58 PM
To: Con Boekel; COG list
Subject: Re: [canberrabirds] article in The Australian about Orange-footed Scrubfowl

 

Hi Con !
An old adage but a true one, especialy if you are a gardener,   " Be careful what you wish for "
Bob

 

 


From: Con Boekel <m("boekel.com.au","con");">>
To: COG list <m("canberrabirds.org.au","canberrabirds");">>
Sent: Friday, 28 December 2012 12:25 PM
Subject: [canberrabirds] article in The Australian about Orange-footed Scrubfowl

 

Good read alert: There is a full page article by Nicholas Rothwell in today's The Australian: 'Love and War in our own backyard'. It describes affectionately the social context for a Top End issue of interest.

I would swap Canberra's Peacockery for Darwin's Scrubfowlery any day of the week.

Con

 


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