John Leonard wrote:
>
> Sitting by Lake Ginnindera in north Canberra today eating my lunch I
> came
> across a large lump of gristle in my 'roast roll'. I couldn't do
> anything
> with it, and so I threw it to Purple Swamphen to see if it could make
> anything of it. It could, it immediately ran with it to the water,
> dunked
> it, and then proceeded to rip strips off it as easily as though it was
> damp
> paper, and gulp them down.
>
> While I was marvelling at this, I noticed that the PS's mate was busy
> chasing the local Moorhens away, and when the first PS had finished
> with the
> gristle it moved aside to let this bird feed too.
>
> Their beaks must be as sharp as scissors.
>
> %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
> John Leonard (Dr)
>
>
> PO Box 243, Woden, ACT 2606, Australia
> %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
>
> _________________________________________________________________
It's not just sharpness of bill, it's strength as well!
I have watched a Purple Swamphen biting through the rhizomes of Common
Reed plants and ripping them up out of the mud, I think gripping each
section with its foot, with the greatest ease.
When I was younger and much stronger, I once tried to collect some reed
plants with a sharp spade. They are very very tough to hack through, and
getting them disentangled from the mud and root masses was almost
impossible.
Once it had got hold of each six-inch section of root, the Swamphen held
it in its foot and chewed away at it, apparently sepaarating the starch
inside from the fibres. It then fed its well-grown fluffy chick from its
beak. In this way they rapidly ate up the chunk of root and discarded
the chewed fibre - then the parent bit off another chunk and did it
again.
I don't think I ever want to handle a live Swamphen. I am sure they
could do a human serious damage.
Anthea Fleming in Ivanhoe.
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