While your first two points are valid point for discussion, sarcasm included, what I was suggesting is that there are many modules available on CPAN (which may have XS under the hood) which provide easy to use interfaces for automating tasks. I believe that one of the reasons for Perl being "frequently used for automation" is that there are fairly easy to use (no C/XS knowledge required) modules for such tasks.

"So, CPAN isn't the whole answer of what makes"

If I understand you correctly, I agree, CPAN isn't a complete answer for the question "Why is perl so frequently used for automation?".

Yet, the haydays of Perl where in the mid to late 90s.

Can you post sources and figures for this?

Some people believe in tiobe...

Some people believe in phrenology too, but anyone who brings measurable statistics into a discussion owes the truth the courtesy of finding verifiable (or at least falsifiable) figures.