Does anyone have experience of the feeding habits of Nankeen Night-Herons?
I volunteer at a wetlands sanctuary in south-east Queensland and am trying to
identify the creature which is leaving crab remains on a crab hide. The crab
hide is a timber structure built on the side of a salt-water creek off the
river and is roughly 800 mm above the mud. The remains are from the Scarlet
Three-spined Mangrove Crab (Neosarmatium trispinosum) and are grouped on one
corner. There were originally just a few nippers, then more, and as time goes
on, more and more nippers, legs, carapaces, etc. Always the one species of
crab, although it is not the most numerous in the area, it is probably the
biggest-bodied crab.
My first thoughts were a mammal - water rat, melomys, bush or ship's rat, etc.
- but they don't fit. White Ibis feed and regurgitate in the area, but this
is very different.
Do Nankeen Night-herons move from where they catch prey to a feeding platform?
Do they eat crabs whole or pull them apart to eat?
I have seen a night-heron in the area quite some time ago, but not recently.
Would appreciate any knowledgable comments.
Thanks
Robyn Howard
==============================www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com
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