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g'day all,
Can any readers direct me to any papers/books/journals
comprehensively listing which Australian birds live or
breed without requiring a water supply.
or alternatively which birds always need a water
supply....(a smaller list ?)
I appreciate that some birds will only
occasionally drink.
(I've only seen a Willy Wagtail drinking the once and very
rarely Raptors.)
Continuing this thread..
1 How far will various species fly from their
feeding areas to drink ?
2 Is it only the graminivorous and granivorous
species (grass and seed eaters) that need water ?
3 Do waders, cormorants, egrets, herons etc drink
?
What prompted this question that Sunday, I
unexpectedly "atlassed" Pheasant Coucals at 3 different locations 100 -120
km NNW of Mount Isa. (The first Atlas did not record this species in this
square.)
The P C is a fairly sedentary bird and would have had to
travel a distance to get water.
(In the past my sightings of this species has
always adjacent to a water supply.)
But a check of "Barker & Vestjens...The Food of
Australian Birds" revealed that its diet is mainly beetles, bugs, grasshoppers,
caterpillars, etc....in other words it does not need water !
Any references would be welcome.
Regards, Bob Forsyth, Mount Isa, NW
Qld.
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