G'day down under:
Some weeks ago on Aus-birds there were a few messages discussing PNG's
Hooded Pitohui, the first bird known to be poisonous.
Here's a related article that may be of interest. The Friends of the
National Zoo in Washington, DC recently published in their journal a
summary of the circumstances surrounding Jack Dumbacher's discovery in
1989, and what he's learned about poisonous birds in PNG since his
discovery was reported in the journal Science in 1992. To cut to the
chase, he's revealed variation in toxicity among Hooded Pitohuis, and
discovered that not only some other pitohuis but also that another
species, the Blue-capped Ifrita, is poisonous, too.
Have a look . . . http://www.fonz.org/zoogoer/zg2001/30(2)pitohuis.htm
Dave Quady
Berkeley, California
Birding-Aus is on the Web at
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