Sorry Kym, but as one who also has neither a for nor an against position on
banding, I take issue with some of your "obvious correlations". I hasten to
add that you have suggested some promising areas for investigation with
models, wind tunnels and the like. But, muddying the water by suggesting
that observations in isolation are evidence does not help resolve the
problem. Ships sail into the distance, then they disappear. Therefore they
obviously fall off the edge of the earth, right?
<Correlation? Is there a correlation between leg flags
and the reported deaths of many Little Terns at Lake
Tyers on Christmas eve? More than 20% of the dead
Terns were banded and many more flagged birds are not
unaccounted for! So the result speaks for itself.
Where are they now?>
Leg flags may well have caused problems. I am quite prepared to beleive
this with evidence. However, one cannot claim any kind of correlation unless
we know what proportion of all the birds were leg flagged, and what
proportion were not. The result as you have written it here simply does not
speak for itself.
<Where are all these multiple leg flagged Red-necked
Stints now? An obvious correlation is that the leg
flagged Stints are missing. Do they have a much
shortened life span due to their leg flags? Should the
missing birds be presumed dead?>
There may well be Stints missing in action. However, they may have
disappeared for all sorts of reasons. Perhaps they are missing because
breeding grounds have been damaged or destroyed. Perhaps there has been a
widespread disease. Perhaps the wintering grounds where they are normally
seen have been "converted" to another land use. Again, I'm quite prepared
to believe that leg flags are affecting Stints or other birds. But this
kind of anecdote is just that. It is an anecdote, and it is not evidence.
I can prove that milk causes heroin addiction. Just listen to this. 100%
of heroin addicts start out by drinking milk. Thats a fact. Therefore
water causes heroin addiction.
This debate will only be settled by systematic investigation, but I suspect
that, whatever the outcome, people will still believe what they want to
believe.
Scott O'Keeffe
-----Original Message-----
From:
Behalf Of Kym Bennet
Sent: 14 January 2002 16:26
To:
Subject: Re: Bird banding contributes to Little Tern
carnage
Hi all
As an impartial observer, I have been avoiding this
debate too. Because of recent postings however, some
points of issue need clarification.....
Cheers
Kym Bennet
Carnegie Victoria
http://my.yahoo.com.au - My Yahoo!
- It's My Yahoo! Get your own!
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