birding-aus

African vagrants

To: "Birding Aus" <>
Subject: African vagrants
From: "Terry Pacey" <>
Date: Sat, 23 Jan 1999 18:12:38 +1000
I have been reading through some of my references and have come up with a question that I would like to pose.
 
Gordon Maclean in "Robert's Birds of Southern Africa" mentions a number of windblown vagrants from South America.  One of these is the American Purple Gallinule (Porphyrula martinica).  This bird is a poor flier and yet with the correct winds it is capable of reaching sw Cape area.
 
Although the distance from southern Africa to southern Western Australia is much greater, is it not feasible that known fliers such as the swifts and swallows could not ride the same wind currents to WA?
 
Comments please.
 
Terry Pacey
Toowoomba
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