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G'day all,
On the day (4/3/2000) that 2 friends (John &
Sue O'Malley)
and I saw the Black
Bittern near Gunpowder Mine we
had 2 other
interesting observations.
1
We were able to drive up
alongside a
Blue-winged Kookaburra
that was sitting on the dirt
road
to the Lake and Sewage ponds.
There were largish (meat ?) ants
crawling around it
and also on its legs.
No doubt there were ants also on its lower
feathers.
I've read
about anting in Alec Chisholm's classic "Bird
Wonders of Australia" but this was my
first observation.
A search of the Birding-Aus Archives using
" anting"
was fruitless
Is there a published comprehensive list
of species
that have been observed anting
?
2 We observed also what may have
been a melanistic
Spinifex Pigeon.
There was some slight greyish
streaks on its otherwise black
back.
The small amount of doubt was created that the
bird was
observed alongside some leakage from a
disused copper
tailings dam that may have stained the
bird.
Regards...Bob Forsyth , Mount Isa,
Qld
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