Hi Storm,
It would seem that the same does not apply to the young of Common
Mynah. Directly behind our house is a bakery/cake shop, which does not
(refuses?) to close their waste skip since new owners took over some 2
years ago. Consequently the local population of CMs has blown out. I
counted over 50 of the vermin in my back yard this afternoon! A steady
diet of bread, cakes and old meat pies does not seem to have affected
the reproductive ability of the little swine and the health of the off-
spring seems to be just great.
I imagine they have much better GI systems than our natives.
Cheers,
Carl Clifford
On 26/02/2009, at 9:44 PM, storm wrote:
Hi Chris, Birders,
Feeding magpies and other whole body eaters bread and other
unsatisfactory
food has been shown time and time again to contribute to unfit young.
It's difficult to believe - since many ducks are also insectivorous
- that
they would not be effected in a similar way.
Since unfit ducklings get eaten by eels and others predators they are
unlikely to be as obvious as magpie chicks with metabolic bone disease
(MBD). Magpie chicks get kidnapped in large numbers by members of
the public
every year when they have just fledged, but before they have learnt
to fly.
These chicks are then handed over to slightly annoyed wildlife
carers who
feed them calcium supplements in an effort to correct the MBD prior to
release.
cheers
storm
-----Original Message-----
From:
Behalf Of Chris Sanderson
Sent: Thursday, 26 February 2009 5:45 PM
To: Russell Woodford
Cc: birding birding-aus
Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Don't Feed the Ducks!
Hi Russell,
I wouldn't be too concerned about the whole duck-bread thing. To
the best
of my knowledge no study has ever proved it to be bad for them. I'd
love to
hear some evidence to the contrary (note: evidence, not anecdote),
but from
talking to people who have actually done research on the issue it
seems to
actually not be too bad for them. In fact, ducks would seem to have
better
self control than most people when it comes to their diet.
Regards,
Chrs
On Thu, Feb 26, 2009 at 12:57 PM, Russell Woodford <
> wrote:
A bread manufacturer has launched an ad campaign based on the slogan
"Don't
feed the ducks". It's not really a campaign to STOP people feeding
bread
to
ducks, although they point out on their website why their bread is
particularly unsuitable as duck food. Their hook is that because
ducks are
eating THIS bread, they are migrating way too far and exhibiting
"Wonder
Performance" because of the composition of the bread. It's a bit
like the
Energizer bunny - but in this case we have ducks.
Although the campaign clearly says "Don't feed THIS bread to
ducks", it
doesn't really convey the important message that ALL BREAD should be
avoided
as duck food. Some authorities have even suggested that the
campaign might
make MORE people feed bread to ducks.
At least the ad agency got a few things right - the Duckwatching
Blog
they've created has links to REAL WORLD sites about ducks,
including the
Coalition Against Duck Shooting. And their portrayal of the
birdwatcher as
a
bearded grey-haired man in a green jacket and daggy beany is, as we
all
know, 100% correct ...
Anyway, it's worth looking at the site for some of the quirky links
(is
there really a birder called Malcolm Fitzpatrick, who has an
obsession for
ducks, and likes Stormboy because a pelican is a bit like a duck?).
Better still, tell a friend to lok at the site, or use the TV ads
as a way
of letting more people know not to feed ANY BREAD to ducks!
http://www.dontfeedtheducks.com.au/
Russell Woodford
Birding-Aus List Owner
Geelong Victoria Australia
http://www.birding-aus.org
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