Dr
Libby Robin from the National Museum of Australia in Canberra is Senior Editor
of a recently released book called Boom and Bust: Bird Stories for a Dry
Country and today she ponders why pelicans fly inland after rain, even
though they never saw it falling. How do they know there's water available in
usually dry desert areas?
Robyn
Williams: I suppose you've seen those thrilling pictures in the papers of
thousands upon thousands of pelicans gathered in the centre of Australia.
They've flown to the wet, and once they're there, they do what pelicans do so
well: breed like there's no tomorrow.
Now if
you look at a great big pelican, with its crew cut, philosopher's frown and
vast undercarriage, you're impressed, yes, by its sheer weight as well, but
despite the look and the hefty size, it doesn't tell you how they know when to
fly, or why they should leave the seaside, which is surely pelican heaven, to go
off to some red sand desert, just because it's flooded for a week or two.
