birding-aus

GHL - Reverse Migration or overshoot?

To: "Graham Etherington" <>, "scouler" <>
Subject: GHL - Reverse Migration or overshoot?
From: "Mike Carter" <>
Date: Wed, 2 Aug 2006 17:57:48 +1000
 "Graham Etherington"  wrote in reponse to Colin Scouler

> Going from the distribution of GHL, it appears to do a NE - SW
> migration in autumn and visa-versa in spring. So, regardless of
> whether it was on its wintering grounds (Nepal-South China) and
> undertook a reverse migration (SW instead of NE), or it was an autumn
> overshoot (again, it should have been going SW) and it flew the
> distance from the wintering grounds to that of Burren Junction, then I
> figure it should have turned up in Madagascar!
> I'd have to study the distribution maps a bit more carefully, but I
> don't see how Australia would end up as part of an over-shoot
> 'shadow'.

What you have written is very much a generalisation. What we are concerned
with here is the movement of one individual. Those individuals which winter
in Hong Kong or further east must migrate virtually north/south. It is even
possible that some could have a slight westerly/easterly component in their
direction. Either way an overshoot or reverse migration could bring the bird
to Australia, albeit more likely the Kimberley than NSW. But what if it
normally migrated north up the Asian coast to reach North Korea then turned
left to head west inland. In my view a very likely scenario. A mirror image
of that with some extra mileage could take it to Burren Junction!! Support
for my reverse migration theory!!

Incidentally, one of my Japanese books has a photograph of a Grey-headed
lapwing standing in rough grassland that looks as though it could have been
taken at Burren Junction. And I ticked it too - and before I voted that BARC
should accept it!!

Mike Carter
30 Canadian Bay Road
Mt Eliza    VIC     3930
Ph:  (03) 9787 7136
Email: 

===============================
www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com

To unsubscribe from this mailing list, 
send the message:
unsubscribe 
(in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to: 
===============================

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>
Admin

The University of NSW School of Computer and Engineering takes no responsibility for the contents of this archive. It is purely a compilation of material sent by many people to the birding-aus mailing list. It has not been checked for accuracy nor its content verified in any way. If you wish to get material removed from the archive or have other queries about the archive e-mail Andrew Taylor at this address: andrewt@cse.unsw.EDU.AU