I've seen Gang-gangs eating sawfly larvae a number of times over the last 10 years.
On Tue, 27 Jan 2026 at 14:50, Michael Wright via Canberrabirds <> wrote:
Re odd things parrots eat, I remember watching Gang Gangs nibbling on sawfly larvae when I was a kid. Haven’t seen it happen since the 80s and I havent seen a mass of ‘spitfires’ in a eucalypt for
many years either.
Cheers
MW
From: Canberrabirds <>
On Behalf Of calyptorhynchus via Canberrabirds
Sent: Tuesday, 27 January 2026 2:37 PM
To:
Subject: Re: [Canberrabirds] Some observations
This is a favorite feeding method of Superb Parrots too.
On Tue, 27 Jan 2026 at 14:35, davros--- via Canberrabirds <> wrote:
Very interesting Geoffrey. I didn't watch for very long but I don't think the SCCs were severing the leaves - hence my description of their being "attached". They may have used their tongues, I cannot be sure,
but it looked like the two mandibles were sliding along the leaf.
Thank you David, an excuse for a little nostalgic recalling. In my view this is not quite such a good year for lerp as the previous one. Another exceptional year was 2005, when we had Swift Parrots and a Regent Honeyeater enjoying
them. The Regent was at ANU, where, in the course of capturing early low-res video of it, I found Gang-gangs doing what you describe for the SCC. An individual leaf was snipped, then lerps on each side harvested with tongue and one mandible, all with remarkable
speed as the video showed. The rotated leaf is supported with the back of the foot, which also holds the severed twig.
I made attached image just now by scanning in a 2005 sequence from the old DVD, which converted to MP4, then screensnipping a few frames, increasing pixels (probably not necessary), and putting together in Power Point. The alert
observer will note that this particular lerp-infested tree was outside the Biology building.
From: Canberrabirds <>
On Behalf Of davros--- via Canberrabirds
Sent: Tuesday, 27 January 2026 9:52 AM
To: Canberrabirds list <>
Subject: [Canberrabirds] Some observations
The Eucalyptus blakeleyi in my front yard (the one in which there was a fledgling Koel for some time until a windstorm blew a couple of branches down) is covered in lerp at the moment. This has induced a feeding frenzy of mainly
Red Wattlebirds but also Noisy Miners for several days. My guess is about 20 birds in all. But the interesting thing from my perspective was the presence of 3 SCCs. They were delicately placing the attached leaves between their mandibles and running their
bills along the leaf apparently scraping off the lerp.
The other observation was reported to me by a lady who lives nearby. She saw me with binos and decided to ask my advice. She had photographed a dead bird on the ground near her place and asked me what it was. It was unmistakably
a young Koel, although not all of the bird was there.
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