Hullo Peter,
Was it really a Scotch Thistle - about 2 ft high and unbelievably
prickly, like needles closely set all over the plant including stems and
sepals? Much commoner on the volcanic plains west of Melbourne is the
Artichoke Thistle or Cardoon, a wild relative of the Globe Artichoke -
long spreading jagged leaves of a grey-green colour and huge heads of
vivid blue flower. The plant can spread in a huge rosette over a 2metre
circle. The base of the bud/flower provides a nut-like edible base
like that of the Artichoke - picked wild and eaten by many people of
Mediterranean origin. I think this would be better from the Galahs'
point of view than Scotch Thistle proper - mercifully not very common here.
Anthea Fleming
wrote:
Last night out at the Western Treatment Plant, I saw two Galahs feeding on
Scotch Thistle! Galah's aren't all that common at the WTP, so i'd assume
they came just to feed on the Thistle.
Peter
"alan morris" <>
Sent by:
01/12/2006 09:10 AM
To
<>
cc
Subject
[Birding-Aus] Galahs and Christmas Bush
Hi Janet,
Once the Christmas Bush goes red, that is a sign that the fruit has formed
and the Galahs would be eating the green seeds. What adaptive birds Galahs
are, their original habitat of inland Australia prior to settlement, did
not
include this bush, but then it did not include Gosord Wattle Acaia
prominans, or many other plants that you see them feeding on these days on
the Central Coast. Same goes for Long-billed Corellas!
Alan Morris
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