Subject: Re: left-billed crossbills
Date: Jan 2 21:41:09 1996
From: MWKG at aol.com - MWKG at aol.com


In a message dated 96-01-02 20:33:27 EST, you write:

>>I've noticed that gulls and shearwaters almost always circle the pelagic
>>boats counterclockwise. Do they circle clockwise south of the Equator?
>>
>>Gene.
>>
>>On Tue, 2 Jan 1996, Steven G. Herman wrote:
>>
>>> Alas the poor Ospreys, but Red Crossbills are similarly afflicted. I
>>> don't know if this is in the Birder's Handbook or not, but it is
>>> generally well known that the upper mandibles of Red Crossbills below the
>>> equator cross the lower mandibles to the left, whereas ours cross to
>>> the right. And vice versa for the lowers. So much for physics, also a
>vice.
>>> Steve Herman
>
>I just have to put a stop to this rampant chicanery. All of these points
>will be moot very soon, as all clocks become digital and birds that depend
>on clockwise and counterclockwise quickly go extinct.
>
>Dennis Paulson


Actually its pretty simple. On a trip off teh Cape of Good Hope last
November they circled clockwise on the way out and counterclockwise on the
way back in. However that was on the Atalantic side of the continent. It
may have been different on the Indian Ocean side.

Mike Waller
WP Zoo