WTNTs Gorokan NSW

[Carl Clifford <>]

Russ,

A kettle means a group of birds soaring and circling together either  
feeding or on a thermal. They look rather like peas or such in a pot  
coming up to the boil. We don't seem to have many species that do  
kettle. WTN, Fork-tailed Swift and Aus.Pelican are the only ones I've  
seen doing it here. Overseas, it is common behaviour in migrating  
raptors, storks and cranes etc. A large kettle of raptors is an  
impressive sight.
Cheers,

Carl Clifford


On 21/01/2012, at 1:59 PM, Russ Lamb wrote:

Carl,
     I've not heard "kettle" used as a collective noun for WTN's, nor  
for anything else in fact (perhaps a group of tea drinkers is a  
possibility).
     Do you know it's derivation? How did you come to use it?

Russ Lamb, Maleny,SEQ