Hi Anne
I looked in HANZAB at lunchtime. The good book states that food is 'seeds
of grasses, shrubs and trees; also fruits,flowers, some insect larvae' and
goes on to cite 3 references reporting unidentified insect larvae. Nothing
about snails. I'd encourage you to send in a note on this to a relevant
bird/natural history journal. It's an interesting finding, especially as it
is an observation of eating a novel (introduced) food item. Other parrots
in Australia have benefited from learning to eat introduced food items, but
in their case that was plant material.
"R.A. & A. Green" wrote:
> A couple of people have responded to my posting by asking if Mulga
> parrots normally eat animal food. I assumed that they don't, hence my
> interest when I observed the behaviour, but perhaps someone on the list
> with access to HANZAB can confirm or refute this assumption.
> (I know Black Cockatoos have been recorded extracting and eating grubs
> from under tree bark and pet cockies of various sorts will chew on a
> chop bone or whatever.)
> Regards
> Anne Green
> --
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+----------------------------------------+
Richard Johnson
Habitat Case Studies Project Officer
Qld Parks & Wildlife Service
Southwest District
Tel: (07) 4622 4266 Fax: (07) 46 22 4151
E-mail:
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