Regarding the recent thread on Mistletoebirds - the following note might be of
some interest -
Two years ago, a pair of Mistletoebirds built a nest in a treefern at the front
steps of my
neighbours house. They laid three eggs, two hatched and eventually two young
fledged. The seeds
after passing through the young were deposited on the ground directly below the
nest. The parents
were not seen taking faecal sacs from the young at any time though they may
have on occasions - my
neighbours are busy people and only checked the nest once or twice a day. After
the young had left the
nest, I gathered up the pile and counted the seed - 894 individual seeds.
Considering that the
fledging period is probably about 15 days, and assuming that neither of the parents contributed to
the pile
below the nest, that is about 30 seeds per bird per day. The pile was 100%
mistletoe seed.
Lloyd Nielsen
Mt Molloy
Nth Qld
www.birdingaustralia.com.au
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