Welcome Swallow fishing

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Hello all,

I just witnessed a Welcome Swallow catch a Mosquito Fish (Gambusia) from Mars Creek, Macquarie University, Sydney. The fish were swimming at the surface in a small pond in the rather dry creek, the bird plucked one out and flew quite low over me with its quarry dangling out of its beak.

An amazing site! And very unusual for (usually) strict insectivore!

Regards, Mr Kurtis Lindsay

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4 thoughts on “Welcome Swallow fishing”

  1. My understanding is that Mosquitofish (Gambusia holbrooki) do eat mosquito larvae. However, they have a bigger preference for consuming other aquatic invertebrates that are natural predators of mosquito larvae. Therefore, they tend to exacerbate the mosquito problem in aquatic environments.

    Stephen Ambrose Ryde NSW

  2. Perhaps Gambusia do, seeing as they were introduced to Australia to control mosquitos and are probably the species in question. Seeing as they are the aquatic answer to the cane toad, perhaps Mac U should invest in a supply of rotenone and dump it in the pond (and any other ponds in the creek) and restock with Gudgeons. Otherwise a training program for Swallows to take out more of the nasty little blighters.

    Carl Clifford

    Mosquitofish (better known as Damnbusia) don’t eat Mosquitos. Swallows welcome to them all!

    Sent from my iPhone

    On 05/09/2011, at 3:33 PM, Carl Clifford wrote:

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  3. Mosquitofish (better known as Damnbusia) don’t eat Mosquitos. Swallows welcome to them all!

    Sent from my iPhone

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  4. Obviously prefers pre-packed mozzie take-away, rather than catching them individually. Be interesting to see if the behaviour is fairly common at that spot.

    Carl Cliffored

    Hello all,

    I just witnessed a Welcome Swallow catch a Mosquito Fish (Gambusia) from Mars Creek, Macquarie University, Sydney. The fish were swimming at the surface in a small pond in the rather dry creek, the bird plucked one out and flew quite low over me with its quarry dangling out of its beak.

    An amazing site! And very unusual for (usually) strict insectivore!

    Regards, Mr Kurtis Lindsay

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    To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line)

    http://birding-aus.org ===============================

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    To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line)

    http://birding-aus.org ===============================

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