No experience with "blowies" and Crested Terns.
However, European (alba) and American Great Egrets (egretta) eat fish,
amphibians, reptiles (including snakes), snails, insects, crustaceans, mammals
and birds (including Reed-warblers). I guess that Eastern Great Egret (modesta)
follows a similar diet.
Nikolas
----------------
Nikolas Haass
Sydney, NSW
----- Original Message ----
From: Philip Griffin <>
To: birding-aus <>
Sent: Friday, November 14, 2008 12:25:46 AM
Subject: [Birding-Aus] Diet questions - Crested Tern and Great Egret
Greetings,
I have a WA-based friend, who's recently got himself a camera and
started taking some photos
of birds, Weedy Sea-dragons and various other things. He's sent me a
couple of interesting
sequences of shots in the last couple of days.
One was a Crested Tern with an inflated puffer-fish, (we called them
"blowies" as kids in Perth).
Apparently the tern was semi-swallowing it, then regurgitating, then
semi-swallowing,
almost as though scratching its throat with the raspy spines on the
fish. As far as I know,
the fish are poisonous, and require specialised preparation if they
are to be consumed by humans.
Perhaps they're not toxic to terns. Anybody seen "blowies" being
eaten by birds?
The other was a Great Egret swallowing a skink (looks like Ctenotus
fallens, could be Ctenotus australis maybe).
I can't find any record in HANZAB of Great Egret eating skinks, and
wonder whether there's anybody
who knows where to put this on the record, as it seems worthy of noting somehow?
Thanks
Philip
--
Philip Griffin
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