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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