That's part of it, but there is more to it than that. A species can
occupy multiple ecological niches across its range, and different
species occupying the same niche can behave quite differently.
I think their ancestral history has a fair bit to do with it.
Laurie.
On 15/05/2013, at 10:29 PM, Carl Clifford wrote:
Laurie,
To each their ecological niche.
Carl Clifford
On 15/05/2013, at 22:07, Laurie Knight <>
wrote:
I came across a foraging Buff-banded Rail as I was passing through
the Roma St Parklands yesterday. Whereas a Junglefowl, Scrubfowl,
Turkey or Logrunner would be busily scratching away in the leaf
litter, the BBR was using its bill to fossick for food in a flower
bed.
This got me thinking about the nature of ground-feeding species
that forage with their feet vs species that forage exclusively with
their bills.
I suspect there are few examples of shorebirds that use their feet
to uncover food (I've seen a gull paddling its feet on the water's
edge but that's pretty much an exception). In contrast, a number
of dryland birds are very dependent on their feet to uncover food.
The thing about the BBR was that it was foraging with its bill in a
medium that other species would use their feet to clear.
So what is it that sets the programming for ground-feeding
behaviour? Some shorebird species would seem to have feet that
could be used for foraging ...
Regards, Laurie.
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