Yes it is strange but not baffling. The expert whose name I missed on ABC Radio this morning seemed quite amazed that a parrot should eat meat.
Caged birds do for a start. I had a pet galah and I regularly gave him a chicken bone. I eventually moved him into a cage with some parrots who quickly learned to envy his bone and it caused a lot of squabbles.
Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos near-destroyed a remnant yellow box tree on Percival Hill ripping the branches up and eating the wood grubs.
I think that the bird psychology going on here is that a lorikeet would not normally RECOGNISE that meat was food or that they might like to eat it. But in certain cicumstances they learn this – from other birds or in this case, just the fact that meat
and seed may be put out together.
What is ironic about the article is that it does not identify that the bird they have ousted from the feeder is a butcherbird. Sure it is odd if they are preferring to eat meat
over normal food.They are taking processed food in a situation where they presumably also get fed seeds. I suggest that "baffling" is a bit over stated, as captive held other parrots may eat meat and this is an almost equally artificial situation. The Kea
is a predator of sheep and eggs & young of shearwaters.
Philip
