Why do currawongs ALWAYS leave berries in the birdbath eg pittosporum, cotoneaster berries, etc. Does drinking/bathing cause them to regurgitate? Are they trying to soak the seeds to make them more digestible? Are they trying to raise the water level? Are they using them to make "tea"? Are they trying to germinate the seeds therein?
Very very good question. How many do they soak?
Ipswich Shire Eastern flanks
Only a few jason, depending on the size of the berries. If the berries are small there are more of them. You've not had that experience? It seems whenever currawongs are around it is a regular daily occurence. Even many years ago. I suspect they eat the berries and when they drink it over-fills their stomachs and so they chuck them up.
Na NP I'm pretty new to actually watching birds, but a long time casual listner. I have noticed though I have a Currowong that now drinks from my frog pond, so will take more notice. It's quite a performance as he/she bends right down to drink the water for its a good 6 inches below it's feet, then lifts its beak right up vertically to swallow. So if it regurtated berries I'd understand. I do fear for the frogs though when it all gets going, there is a good perch for it to watch and wait, but it all part of the design.
Ipswich Shire Eastern flanks
Are you sure it is the Currawongs?
I too have berry seeds in my birdbaths in the morning but as i have discovered it is actually the BT Possum that "dumps" them there.
Shorty......Canon gear
Canberra
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rawshorty/
Yes Shorty definitely the (pied) Currawongs. Lately they have been dropping them AROUND the birdbath as well. Strange behaviour but they are smart birds so it makes me think that the drops have a purpose. Soaking them might be a way to soften the fruit to get to the seeds? Or leaching them to extract poisons? In winter, insects and lizards, etc would be hard to find so maybe they would have to rely on berries/fruits?
After a little look around Google, it seems this is normal. They regurditate what they can't digest and i assume the water makes it easier. During the colder months they increase their diet of berries. It would seem that they are a big cause for the spread of introduced plants.
Shorty......Canon gear
Canberra
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rawshorty/
Could I suggest that an even more significant cause of the spread of introduced plants is the folk who plant & the nurseries which sell the introduced plants? Pointing the finger solely at the Currawongs will give the Earth wreckers another excuse to wreak their havoc on Nature.
Well I have no berries in the frog pond or the bird bath, but I do have a Currawong eating the wing of a Noisy Miner. Pitty the light is fading or I'd get a snap. It a whole wing, neatly placed in the fork of the branches to secure it as Currawong eats from the joint that once attached to the miner.
Ipswich Shire Eastern flanks
Nature raw
In tooth and claw.
Might be why the miners are not so noisy around here. I know it kind of happens, just surprised to actually see it. The frogs are in trouble when they get going, they better learn to hop fast.
Ipswich Shire Eastern flanks
Now Woko I don't want you to think I am being pedantic but I looked up those obviously-literatic words to see where they originated (as I usually do out of curiousity).
It appears they came from Tennyson's "In memorium" and they of course allude to the inherently violent nature of the untamed world (likewise some sectors of the human world).
Anyway, the words are:
"Who trusted God was love indeed
And love creation's final law
Tho' nature, red in tooth and claw
With ravine, shrieked against his creed."
Just thought you'd like to know. I'd hate you to be bitten and clawed by a student of Tennyson.
Well, Night Parrot, curiosity certainly didn't kill the cat. (More's the pity). Thanks so much for that elucidation. And thanks to Tennyson.