Just to set the record straight, the Latham's Snipe which lost a REPORTED
8 grams between bandings weighed around 160g initially. That puts it
round about the 5% error margin, unless I'm wrong. The recorder
mentioned 164g, but I'm not sure if this was at 1st or 2nd weigh-in.
To put things in perspective, when my wife was rowing lightweight at
international level, she would sometimes have to shed weight at a similar
rate (i.e. dropping 3kg from 60 to 57 to 'make weight'), then race 2000m!
Does anyone have data on weight gain and loss over short periods of time?
I mean for birds, not rowers!! I'm sure I've seen some data somewhere,
and I THINK this 8 grams is well within the sort of things that can
happen to a bird in a swamp on a cold & windy night. By the way, the
times for weighing were approx 7 or 8 pm then 6 am.
Russell Woodford
PS Anybody who is desperate to sponsor a twitchthon team, get in touch.
We think we'll see 160-182 species. That's weather and tide dependent.
Thanks.
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