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Bass Strait migrants and poisonous Aussie birds - Flame Robins

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Subject: Bass Strait migrants and poisonous Aussie birds - Flame Robins
From: Sonja Ross <>
Date: Wed, 16 May 2012 15:15:41 +1000
Is there any evidence from any of the Bass Strait islands which might support 
or go towards disproving the idea?
On 16/05/2012, at 2:46 PM, Jeremy O'Wheel wrote:

> Hi Steve, birders,
> 
> Quite a lot of flame robins appear to overwinter in Tasmania though.
> Banding, or tracking may require a large sample to get one that does
> cross.  Also I find the "they looked exhausted so we figured they must have
> flown 400km across open ocean" argument not compelling.  They surely could
> have flown a long distance from somewhere else, or indeed not have actually
> been exhausted, but feeding at the bottom of the cliffs, escaping windy
> conditions, or many other just as speculative explanations.  It seems
> especially speculative to suggest that the birds could fly 400km, but not
> the tops of the cliffs.  If this story is true, it sounds like the easiest
> test would be scour Victorian beaches for washed up dead ones, especially
> after the full moon.
> 
> Jeremy O'Wheel
> 
> On Wed, May 16, 2012 at 1:59 PM, Steve Clark <> wrote:
> 
>> G'day Anthea
>> 
>> Many thanks for following this up.  This certainly lends support to
>> the Bass Straight migration of Flame Robins.  There is no need for a
>> major banding effort to prove this once and for all though.  Northern
>> Wheatears (similar in size to Flame Robins) have been tracked from
>> Alaska to sub-Saharan Africa with 1.4g gadgets. Stick a few of these
>> on Robins in northern Tassy in late March and we should know the
>> answer.
>> 
>> http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/17027565
>> 
>> Cheers
>> Steve
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