>From Pizzey & Knight:
"takes eggs/young, scavenges dead birds, fish"
It's a tough world out there!
On 4 October 2011 22:27, Debbie Lustig <> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> In his Saturday Age column on 1/10, 'The case against the swamphen', Robert
> Drewe described the Purple Swamphen thus:
>
> 'It's a tallish, bulky, gaunt bird...taller than the average rooster and,
> in a masked Darth Vader sort of way, more menacing in appearance...[It] has
> sinister black feathers, which blend into an oily purple ruff around the
> neck. [Its head has] a red skullcap of plastic-looking, cartilaginous stuff,
> which descends into a mask from which black eyes glint cunningly and a
> disproportionately large, horny beak.
>
> 'The swamphen has an edgy demeanour, skinny legs and three long, unwebbed
> toes...on which it strides and sprints across reeds and lily-pads,
> defecating heedlessly as it goes.'
>
> Next, about the swamphen's supposed lack of flying prowess: '[It] flaps and
> flies about as high and successfully as a domestic chicken.'
>
> The real point of the piece comes after all this, arguably slanderous stuff
> (can you slander a bird?).
>
> Drewe witnessed swamphens grabbing ducklings and cygnets. He claims to have
> seen this at least three times. Then, recently, one bit him while he tried
> to jog around it. Hence, the ugly, hate-crime rhetoric about its looks and
> demeanour. (It's a very funny article.)
>
> Never having suffered an attack by one, I must leap to the defence of
> swamphens. They're fun to photograph with some bit of stuff in their (long,
> unwebbed) feet. And they fly quite fast round these parts. Wandering around
> on top of huge reed beds is pretty neat, too.
>
> Could it be time to start a Purple Swamphen Appreciation Society?
>
> Has anyone apart from (professional yarnspinner) Mr Drewe seen a swamphen
> grab a duckling or cygnet?
>
>
>
>
> ===============================
>
> To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
> send the message:
> unsubscribe
> (in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
> to:
>
> http://birding-aus.org
> ===============================
>
===============================
To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
send the message:
unsubscribe
(in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to:
http://birding-aus.org
===============================
|