birding-aus

Galahs and Scotch Thistle

To:
Subject: Galahs and Scotch Thistle
From: brian fleming <>
Date: Fri, 01 Dec 2006 18:14:39 +1100

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
===============================
www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com

To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to: 
===============================

===============================
www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com

To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to: 
===============================



===============================
www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com

To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to: 
===============================

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>
Admin

The University of NSW School of Computer and Engineering takes no responsibility for the contents of this archive. It is purely a compilation of material sent by many people to the birding-aus mailing list. It has not been checked for accuracy nor its content verified in any way. If you wish to get material removed from the archive or have other queries about the archive e-mail Andrew Taylor at this address: andrewt@cse.unsw.EDU.AU