-----Original Message-----
From: Alan Shlosberg <>
To: <>
Date: Wednesday, 5 May 1999 23:22
Subject: birding-aus Re: Bulging crops
We have had several outbreaks of mortality in wintering birds,
mainly mallards (but I can find out what else if anyone is
interested), that had ingested remnants of harvested chick peas
(whole peas) from fields. I got into this as a toxicologist, but we
found nothing except grossly swollen upper digestive tracts
(particularly crop) down to the gizzard. We presumed that the birds
had gorged on the chick peas that had then absorbed much water,
enlarged and interefered, fatally, on cardiovascular function.
)
We once had a male domestic chicken die as a result of consuming a pumpkin
seed. These seeds are too big to pass through the crop and too tough for the
crop to grind up. This seed germinated and eventually asphyxiated the poor
bird.
Paul Osborn
To unsubscribe from this list, please send a message to
Include ONLY "unsubscribe birding-aus" in the message body (without the
quotes)
|
