The site requires payment to download the paper, Eric. I'm interested to know
how you went about tracking the birds to determine which ones were leading. I
agree with Philip Veerman that in the mixed flocks I've seen, it's almost
impossible to tell get an idea of what they're doing. Often it's difficult to
get an idea of which direction the entire flock is moving, or even if it is
moving, let alone individuals.
Peter Shute
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Birding-Aus On Behalf
> Of
> Sent: Wednesday, 16 March 2016 8:46 AM
> To:
> Cc:
> Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Mixed feeding groups
>
> Hi all,
> I and colleagues published a paper on mixed flocks in Australian tropical
> savannah in 2012: http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/MU11041 It touches upon
> which, if any, species is leading mixed flocks, but is more concerned with
> species composition. There is certainly a "type" of MF that has woodswallows
> apparently leading it. There is also a type that has spangled drongos strongly
> involved. There are references within it to African bird parties, including
> those involving African drongos.
> Regards,
> Eric
>
> Sent from my iPad
>
> On 15 Mar 2016, at 3:51 PM, Sonja Ross
> <<>> wrote:
>
> Philip,
>
> I was interested to find out possibilities, and what people thought.
>
> It wasn't intended as a joke. From the way Dave spoke, it seems that one
> species does usually lead in the part of England where he lives. The leader
> of
> the group obviously accepted it as a serious question, and gave us a species
> for the area we were in in Sri Lanka. He obviously listened for the calls of
> that
> species to lead the group to a particular section of the forest.
>
> Unfortunately there is no punch line!
>
> Sonja
>
> On 15 March 2016 at 15:53, Philip Veerman
> <<>> wrote:
>
> A curious question not because it might not happen but because there are so
> many possibilities. Where I am in Canberra this is well known as a big feature
> of the bird behaviour of the cool months. Typically thornbills, whistlers,
> fantails, silvereyes, I don't know how you would pick a leader species, as
> they
> sort of move as a mass. Is the leader consistent? Is it based on the species
> or
> on individuals. As in do all the members of one species move then all the
> members of another species. I doubt it.
>
> For a start I wonder whether this "Obviously it happens in Britain that one
> species must lead." is intended as a joke that this be obvious and what is the
> punch line.
>
> Philip
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Birding-Aus On Behalf
> Of Sonja Ross
> Sent: Monday, 14 March 2016 7:18 PM
> To: <>
> Subject: [Birding-Aus] Mixed feeding groups
>
> I've just been on a birding trip to Sri Lanka (and thoroughly recommend it).
> Four of the group were British, and one asked our leader about the bird
> species leading feeding parties i.e. which species did this? Obviously it
> happens in Britain that one species must lead. When I was out today, I came
> across a couple of mixed groups and wondered, does any species lead such
> groups in Australia, and are they different in different areas, such as
> honeyeaters in Vic, but Figbirds in Qld.?
>
> I'd be interested to hear what others think as I hadn't thought about it
> before Dave asked!
>
> Thanks,
>
> Sonja
>
>
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