birding-aus

How pelicans know Lake Eyre is full

To: "Birding Aus (E-mail)" <>
Subject: How pelicans know Lake Eyre is full
From: "Pat O'Malley" <>
Date: Thu, 11 May 2000 16:23:26 +1000
John Leonard's birds  'suck it and see' theory seems very plausible -
especially when you recognise that ducks, especially, often fly at
considerable altitudes (isn't the altitude record held by a Mallard?). So
they could indeed see long distances.

Its the best contender so far - but I have a few problems with it.

Is it likely that great mobs of birds all head off, leaving a perfectly good
lake, on what might be a wild goose chase (sorry)?  And if its just the odd
one or two that discovers the water (a) why would they return  to tell the
others and (b) how would they communicate it? (like bees?)

Last question. What attracts them? Why should new waters inland, hours and
hours of flying time away, attract them away from plenty of water and rich
feeding grounds at  (say) a sewage works in the south east?

Pat O'Malley


To unsubscribe from this list, please send a message to

Include ONLY "unsubscribe birding-aus"
in the message body (without the quotes)

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>
Admin

The University of NSW School of Computer and Engineering takes no responsibility for the contents of this archive. It is purely a compilation of material sent by many people to the birding-aus mailing list. It has not been checked for accuracy nor its content verified in any way. If you wish to get material removed from the archive or have other queries about the archive e-mail Andrew Taylor at this address: andrewt@cse.unsw.EDU.AU