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Hi,
Something to think about:
They other day I saw a Comb-crested Jacana swimming
(turning around anyway) in open water. I'd never seen this before but I checked
HANZAB and found it was not unheard of. An article in Emu, referenced by HANZAB
says that they may actually dive under the water to escape
predators.
Anyway this got me thinking - are all birds theoretically
capable of swimming? If you dropped a terrestrial bird in the water would it
sink or float and if it could float, would it be able to swim? Many birds plunge
themselves into deep water to drink or bath but the fact they don't usually
alight for long on the surface would suggest they can't swim - or are they just
afraid of the water??
Cheers
Tim Dickson
Townsville
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