Hi, Tweets

I'm on a couple South African lists and received the following
yesterday and thought some of you might enjoy reading it.

Cheers, Diann


>Sender: tygerberg at yahoogroups.com
>
>On Christmas Day we went to the Karoo Nat Park and found a swarm of locusts
>moving from west to east. It was interested to see all the birds that were
>feeding on it. A large flock of Pale-winged and Pied Starling enjoyed them
>throughout, while Rock Kestrel took the insects in flight. Familiar Chat and
>Mountain Wheatear made use of the proteien and a pair of Ground Woodpeckers
>were also enjoying the party. Very interesting was to see that even a
>Greater Striped Swallow landed in the road to eat on a locust "road kill".
>
>That is just showing that locusts are not that bad invaders of the Karoo,
>but a very important part of the whole ecology.
>
>A few weeks before when the locusts were in it's walking stage, I saw a
>Karoo Longbilled Lark collecting 4 or 5 of the locusts to feed it's
>juvenile. Keeping in mind that Karoo Korhaans and Ludwig's Bustards are main
>feeders on locusts when it's available, you are wondering what bad influence
>the spray of the insects will have on the birds.