Hi all,
As Greg and others have said, Rainbow Lorikeets often feed on the seeds of
Casuarinas and Allocasuarinas. The species that I have usually seen them
feeding on is Casuarina equisetifolia subsp. incana (Coastal She-Oak), which
grows in coastal eastern Australia north from northern NSW (the casuarinas by
the Byron Bay SLSC referred to by Syd) . Scaly-breasted Lorikeets also often
eat Coastal She-Oak seeds. Recently, at Mon Repos near Bundaberg (SE Qld), both
these lorikeets and Red-tailed Black-Cockatoos were feeding on Coastal She-Oak
seeds. As Greg mentioned, the lorikeets would pick the seeds from the opening
capsules, while the cockatoos crushed up the 'cones' for the seeds.
Re Greg's comments on Glossy Black-Cockatoos and Casuarina vs. Allocasuarina,
on the western slopes of NSW seeds of Casuarina cristata (Belah) are one of
their main food sources.
Cheers
Carl Gosper
Brisbane
-----Original Message-----
From:
Behalf Of Greg Clancy
Sent: Friday, 11 February 2005 5:35 PM
To: Birding-aus
Cc: Alan Morris
Subject: Re: Rainbow Lorikeets in Casuarina
Re. Brian's, Syd's and Anthea's comments re. Rainbow Lorikeets in Casuarinas I
have a number of records of Rainbow Lorikeets feeding on the seeds of the Black
She-oak Allocasuarina littoralis at Coutts Crossing, North Coast New South
Wales. Unlike the local Glossy Black-Cockatoos that crush the 'cones' (which
are not really cones!) the Rainbows delicately remove the winged seeds one by
one from the dry capsules. It is interesting that only the Casuarinas that
were renamed Allocasuarina are the species used by Glossy Black-Cockatoos as a
food source. The ones that retained the Casuarina generic name, such as River
Oak and Swamp Oak are not used by Glossies, although there is a recent report
of Glossies eating River Oak. Alan Morris may be able to confirm this record.
Regards
Greg
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