Birds eating Monarchs

[Gary Anweiler]

Howdy

Brings to mind an experience I had a couple of years back. I had a screen
funnel trap for moths set up - and noted a Phoebe showing a great interest
in the fluttering contents.  He snapped up several as I released them.  By
the third day he would take them from my fingers.  As I was getting a fair
variety of our local Arctiid moths, supposedly brightly colored to warn
birds of their nasty taste, I took the opportunity to try them out on the
Phoebe.  He ate eveything with equal apparent relish - Spilosoma, Grammia,
Hypoprepia...  

I wonder if there are perhaps predators with better taste buds than birds
out there ???
I certainly was not impressed with the effectiveness of the warning colors
as defences againt avian predation !!

Gary Anweiler, Edmonton AB Canada