An interesting observation Chris. While some birds may appear to drink salty water, it is also possible that they aren’t. Some birds dip their head in pools of salty water to irrigate their nares (nostrils) and wash their head feathers in an effort to get rid of mites. I’m not necessarily saying that is what the Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoos or Sulphur-crested Cockatoos were doing, but it is nevertheless something that needs to be considered. On a hot day, it is also a good way of cooling down. For instance, the Emu is reliant on drinking freshwater, but will also splash water over its head and upper neck to keep cool. These parts of the Emu’s body act as thermal windows where excess body heat can escape. By cooling the skin surface in these areas with water, further internal body heat loss to the surrounding environment is facilitated. Stephen Ambrose Ryde NSW —–Original Message—– From: Birding-Aus [mailto:birding-aus-bounces@birding-aus.org] On Behalf Of Chris Lloyd Sent: Thursday, 27 November 2014 9:45 AM To: birding-aus@birding-aus.org Subject: [Birding-Aus] Salt water consumption I am fairly sure that all orders apart from passerines have anything from fully functional to vestigial salt glands behind the eyes. This would be very useful to Australian birds given the large amount of salt found in water both estuarine and inland. Having said that I have also see SC Cockatoos foraging around on estuarine rocks (e.g. below Audley Weir in RNP) and apparently dipping their bills – closer examination showed that they were, of course, sampling Sydney Rock oyster au natural. Ciao Chris Lloyd
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