There is a relation between birds and Tephritid flies and many time monitoring traps catch flies near nesting areas. Some of that is explained by the ammonia that attracts the flies, but is there more?. I know some frugivorous birds (like Bulbul, Pycnonotus plumosus and Common Blackbird, Turdus merula), when offered prefer Medfly-infested- on non infested fruits, yet I don’t know if and how could they carry flies for distances (like small size fruits in their beak or maybe in their crop?). Has anyone seen such phenomena?
This is an interesting question. My immediate thought was that temperatures in the crop might be too high for fruit fly survival. However that may not be the case as many birds carry fruit and insects in their crops and beaks to feed their chicks. But then if the chicks are fed then the insects would be consumed by the chicks. Do migratory birds store food in their crops for sustenance on long journeys? But then wouldn't any insects in the food be consumed by the migrating bird? These questions and possibly more.....
My question was about cryptic migration pathways of flies (a few kilometers). Migratory birds travel far longer distances (hundred kilometers) so may not be related to this. For that, even a few individuals may count: a few fully developed larvae, which were carried in a fruit by the parent frugivorous bird, may exit off it just in the right moment, before the chicks swallow it and pupate in the proximity of the nest.
Thanks, Yoav. In that case there could very well be some spread of flies and other insects and pathogens that way. I'll think about it a bit more.
But do Blackbirds feed chicks with fruits? I suppose it's rather animal food taken from below ground, e.g. earthworms. I would not suppose they catch fruitflies, either.
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