Update on Gang-gang diet research
Thanks to the 227 of you that have provided sightings of feeding Gang-gangs via INaturalist. I recently did an analysis of the 1800 records I have so far received for Birdlife Australia as part of their preparation of a program to encourage residents and schools to plant Gang-gang friendly plants in their gardens and grounds. The 1800 sightings included 181 food items and recorded 7230 feeding events. (The number of Gang-gangs recorded by a sighting, multiplied by the number of days over which the feeding occurred.).
About 30% of the feeding is on exotic plants. About 50% of the records are from the Canberra area. I hope that by the end of the study (June 2022) I will be able to do seperate regional guides. So please keep you observations coming.
As discussed previously Gang-gangs seem to feed from five main food groups. The current data provides the following information
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Eucalyptus and other Myrtaceae buds, fruit and flowers (56 Eucalypts, 2 Angophora, 5 corymbia, 1 leptospermum and 2 Melaleucas) - 44% of sightings, 50% of events
The top ten species are
Eucalyptus globulus asp bicostata
Eucalyptus globulus spp maidenii
Eucalyptus bridgesiana
Eucalyptus macrorhyncha
Eucalyptus viminalis
Eucalyptus globulus sip globulus
Eucalyptus pauciflora
Eucalyptus sieberi
Eucalyptus mannifera
Corymbia gummifera
Eucalyptus sideroxylon -
Wattles (35 species recorded) 9% of sightings or 5% of events the top 3 are all bipinnate species
Acacia dealbata
Acacia baileyana
Acacia mearnsii -
Cones and Pods (32 species) 16% of sightings and 20% of events. the top five are
Liquidambar styraciflua
Cupressus sempervirens
Callitris enlicheri
Cupressus arizonica
Cupressus macrocarpa -
Relatively small berries with relatively large seeds (31 species) 26% of sightings and 21% of events, the top six are
Crataegus monogyna/laevigata
Cotoneaster glaucophyllus
Pistacia chinensis
Melia azerderach
Persoonia linearis
Persoonia pinifolia - There are eight Insects and Acacia Fungal galls as food items they only make up 2% of sightings and 1% of events. The majority of records are of sawfly larvae.
Thanks again for your contribution
Michael Mulvaney