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Re: New MANIAC book is out! -good/poor flyer



On Mon, Feb 22nd, 2010 at 6:29 AM, Erik Boehm <erikboehm07@yahoo.com> wrote:

> I would suggest that "poor flyers" use flight as an escape method,
> but not as a normal mode of locomotion.
> A "good flyer" flies to travel from point A to point B.
> 
> Good flyers: Albatross, Vultures, small woodland birds, hummingbirds,
> most waterfowl (maybe), etc...

It depends on what you mean by 'flyer' I suppose. How well would albatrosses 
fair in completely 
windless conditions? Or vultures without thermals? I tend to think of those two 
groups as specialist 
soarers rather than good flyers. 

Geese can travel long distances in dead air without the help of air currents. 
Pigeons can out-
manoeuvre falcons or take off vertically. Active flappers that don't require 
specific atmospheric 
conditions are the real 'good flyers' in my book.

-- 
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Dann Pigdon
GIS Specialist                         Australian Dinosaurs
Melbourne, Australia               http://home.alphalink.com.au/~dannj
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