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Hi all,
While attempting to show a group of birders
Black-breasted Button-quails near Yarraman in SE Qld last weekend, I chanced
upon something I'd never seen before in the avian world.
We were unsuccessful in our attempts to find the
BQs, although we found many fresh platelets. One of these was completely filled
with what I can only presume to be BQ dung.
While finding dung in platelets is hardly unusual
(it's often helpful for finding the birds), this seemed to be literally a
communal latrine for the birds. There was a small stick next to the platelet
which served as the, um, launching pad, and the dung inside was about an inch
thick and about four inches across - enough to fill a bowl!
Naturally enough we waited at the spot as some of
the dung was quite fresh but we had no luck. Can anyone shed any light on this?
I'd never seen or heard of anything like it.
Cheers
AS
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