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["Greg & Val Clancy" <>]

Hi Max,

As tourists love to hear stories like the Radjah Shelduck one guides sometimes 
embellish the facts and I doubt that there is any truth to it.  It may be true 
that some species of birds 'mate for life' but once one bird dies the other one 
usually finds another mate.  That is not to say that a certain amount of 
'grief' doesn't occur.  I know as a scientist that I shouldn't be talking this 
way but science's ideas about bird's intelligence and emotions are changing as 
time proceeds.
I have studied Ospreys and Black-necked (Satin) Storks and have found that both 
of these species, while apparently 'mating for life' do find new partners in 
the event of a partner's death.  Divorce, although rare, also does occur.
HANZAB states re. the Radjah Shelduck "sustained monogamous; pair bonds 
probably lifelong."

Greg Clancy