Purple Swamphens use their feet a great deal in feeding. I was very
impressed with the way a Swamphen chopped through a short section of
Cumbungi (Typha) rhizome with its beak; then it seized the separated
piece with its foot and just yanked it out. As I know from trying to
collect pieces of Typha, this is no simple task - a human needs a
well-sharpened spade to chop through the rhizome, and then the roots
really hold it firmly down in the mud. The bird's strength is
incredible. Then what did it do with its piece of Cumbungi? The bird
chewed and nibbled at it (holding it in its foot the while) until the
starchy white juice was running free of the fibres, and then fed
mouthfuls of it to a well-grown downy young one which had been squawking
and begging throughout the process. The juice was carefully tipped into
the chick's beak - very little was spilt.
Incidentally cumbungi was one of the many native water-plants used by
indigenous people for food.
Anthea Fleming
On 14/10/2012 4:33 PM, David Robertson wrote:
At Mannum over the weekend I watched swamphens foraging for scraps around the
caravan park. I was intrigued to see that they picked up food, eg a chicken
bone using their middle and inside toes, parrot fashion, and then picked at the
bone. Either foot, several different birds. They never placed their foot on
top of the bone, as many species do, but always picked it up to eat it. Is
this behaviour confined to this particular park or do all swamphens do this?
David Robertson
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