Re oats and horses,
I have observed large groups of Common Mynas working over horse manure for
oats and the like. The birds finely sort and sift the manure, spreading it
everywhere until every edible bit is found. Doesn't take them very long.
My observations were in public horse paddocks very close to suburban
Canberra.
Cheers
Anthony
----------
From: Brian Fleming
To: birding-aus
Subject: birding-aus Commensals - another variant
Date: Tuesday, 24 August 1999 12:50PM
I have seen House Sparrows eating hard seeds which had been regurgitated
by Pied Currawongs. Each pellet consisted of about six to ten seeds -
probably Pittosporum, in a garden in Ivanhoe, Melbourne. Back in the
horse era, the oats which had passed undigested through horses were one
of the main foods for city sparrows. (WA has no sparrows because great
care was taken in the building of the trans-Continental Railway to
completely clear one end of the line and its camps of horses and their
fodder, before the WA part of the line was joined up. Otherwise the
sparrows would have just followed them across.)
Some years ago at University of Queensland's lake I saw a Little Black
Cormorant swimming along an open part among the waterlilies - on which a
Jacana was scampering about. The cormorant seemed to be following the
jacana and using it as a beater to disturb small fish or other
waterlife.
Anthea Fleming in Melbourne
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