numbers of Needtails

["John Leonard" <>]

I would have thought it it is often difficult to estimate how many 
Needletails there are, because you don't know if you're seeing wave after 
wave of birds coming through, or the same birds going round and round. (This 
is particualrly the case when they're at low altitude).
In January 2003 I down on our local sports oval in suburban Canberra and was 
treated to a flock of Needletails arriving before a storm front and hawking 
low for insects across the oval. I reported on birding-aus at the time that 
if they were the same birds going round and round then there were dozens and 
maybe up to a hundred, if different waves of birds, then many hundreds. My 
natural pessimism made me choose the former explanation.
John L

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John Leonard (Dr)


http://www.webone.com.au/~jleonard
PO Box 243, Woden, ACT 2606, Australia
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