I've discovered since writing the mail that Scott quoted, that Rufous
Night Herons do encounter at least one toxic native frog species (in
Australia). Litoria dahlii has been shown to be toxic to various snake
snake species - the Keelback was an exception [1].
Admittedly this doesn't necessarily imply L. dahlii are toxic to Rufous
Night Herons. Litoria dahlii is a largish green frog often seen on the
dam wall at Fogg Dam.
I've also seen a list of Kakadu bird species which it was thought
might prey on Cane Toad (adults or tadpoles) - all the birds on the
list also occur in northern Queensland where toads have been present
for over 50 years. If these birds are coping with toads in Queensland,
hopefully they will in the Top End as well.
Most of the birds list was at most incidenatl frog/tadpole predators -
how abundant frogs are in the NT svanannah/woodland, I was surprised
how few bird species seem to sigificantly exploit them.
Toxicity is not the only threat to birds - the first (dead) Toad I saw
on a recent NT trip (on the Stuart Highway south of Katherine) was
killed as it was swallowing a bird. Both were decomposed so I couldn't
determine ID the bird or determine if the toad took it alive or dead.
It makes me wonder about the Button-quail that you find (apparently)
sleeping on quieter NT roads - they might be small enough to be taken
by a large Toad.
Andrew
Birding-Aus is on the Web at
www.shc.melb.catholic.edu.au/home/birding/index.html
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message
"unsubscribe birding-aus" (no quotes, no Subject line)
to
|
