Foods of the Long-Billed Corella

Abstract

The long-billed corella has adapted to the loss of its native foods by incorporating into its diet plants which were introduced to Australia by the European colonists. Analyses of the contents of crops and proventriculi from 314 long-billed corellas which were collected during a period of almost 7 years in western Victoria indicated that, on a volume basis, more than 90% of the diet is now composed of cereal grains, sunflower and thistle seeds, and the corms of an introduced weed (onion grass, Romulea spp.).