birding-aus

Re: birding-aus shy birds

To: John Leonard <>
Subject: Re: birding-aus shy birds
From: James Davis <>
Date: Thu, 6 May 1999 11:49:07 +1000 (EST)
John:

Can't say I understand your answer ... but it is known that many species
will react differently to alien objects thhey encounter depending upon
whether 1) predators are common in their environs and 2) they have or have
not become habituated to particular objects, e.g. curlews to people on the
uni campus (see Peter's e-mail).

Cheers, Jim


Dr. Wm. James Davis, Editor
Interpretive Birding Bulletin


On Thu, 6 May 1999, John Leonard wrote:

> David James wrote:
> 
> Would you say the shy birds live on the ground and non-shy birds in the
> >trees?
> 
> Possibly, but it could just be an anthrocentric bias: birds that live in
> trees are easier  to approach because they are looking out of the tree in a
> wide band and humans only take up 5-6ft of that, whereas ground dwelling
> birds are looking up and whenever a human approaches he or she always
> occupies the first 5-6ft of that view. 
> 
> Also it's easier to look into a tree (especially a gum tree) and see a bird,
> rather than into thick vegetation (cf grasswrens :-))
> 
> John Leonard
> 
> 
> 
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> 
> John Leonard (Dr),
> PO Box 243,
> Woden, ACT 2606,
> Australia
> 
> 'Words had to change their ordinary meaning and to
> take that which was now given to them.'
> Thucydides III 82
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.spirit.net.au/~jleonard
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> 
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