Many thanks to Chris, Philip, and Tony for their responses.
Chris' reference to Debus set my mind at ease. Many people living near me
hate possums and rat poisons are an obvious way of breaking the law to
reduce their numbers (from memory exceeding 10-20x bushland densities per
hectare because of the food availability). I first became worried about
the second-generation rat poison, brodifacoum, when there were dead rats -
and a dead Black-shouldered Kite nearby. (It can't help Letter-winged Kites
either and I remember John Young did work on poisoning in the Queensland
cane fields with owl boxes being more effective in reducing rat numbers).
Philip reiterated the point about aerial prey and was as ever precise. I
had missed the 'shorts' prey story.
Tony's post (isn't the plural of possum, possa?) reminded me of the sad loss
of JAG. So sorry I couldn't join in to the tributes at the time.
So yes POs are almost always aerial. But how do these huge beasts deliver
insects to their young?! Not with those talons!
Michael Norris
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