the birds that live on rubbish

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zosterops
zosterops's picture
the birds that live on rubbish
Woko
Woko's picture

You mentioned this issue a couple of months ago if I remember correctly, zosterops. I have a few questions:

  • is "fatty" "junk" food nutritious for the white storks?
  • what impact is the increase in white stork numbers having elsewhere in the environment where the storks stay put?
  • what impact is the absence of white storks having in the location to which they normally migrate? E.g,. are insect numbers there out of control & having a damaging impact?
  • will migrating behaviour return when the rubbish dumps are covered? (A question asked in the BBC report).
zosterops
zosterops's picture

only supposition/my thoughts

. probably not but note population increases in silver gulls etc. (some species appear to possess some ability to adapt to these food sources, whether or not it will have long-term health implacts??)

. who knows. i'd have thought that a large resident unnaturally-large white stork population would place pressure on local natural food resources, but if they all feed on rubbish?

. haven't looked into it 

. depends on whether they have become dependent on the food source and whether they retain migratory instincts. in europe i recall there was a local gull species which underwent a population explosion due to their feeding on rubbish tips for decades. local residents complained about the gull's mess so it was decided that the rubbish would now be buried further underground where the gulls could no longer access it. and so the gulls starved by the tens of thousand.   

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