Something was in the wind on the banks of Sullivans Creek, ANU campus. It was a decomposing European Carp that probably would have weighed around 1.5 kilos. A Purple Swamphen
was pecking away at the carcass. To alleviate discomfort to the olfactory tract we circled upwind and focussed the binoculars from 25 metres away. We could see the swamphen was removing scales from the fish one at a time and moving them from side to side in
its bill as if savouring the fishy sauce thereon. After maybe 30 seconds it would discard the scale and pick up another.
OK, it’s a quantum jump from swamphens to butterflies but I’ve seen those pretty insects of the sun (can’t remember the species) clustered on the decomposed carcass of
a rabbit. Apparently they were sipping the putrescent juices said to contain certain salts which are good kai for a butterfly.
John Layton
Holt
