Jack,

This is the sort of posting that makes me really appreciate
Tweeters. It seems so obvious but somehow it doesn't come to mind
until someone like you brings it up. It is easy to fall into the
trap of thinking, "Birds don't care what the windspeed is 'cause
they're airborne and it's relative". Thanks also for your many
postings enlightening us all about the significance to birds and
birding of the current meteorological circumstances. I will add
that I don't envy your blue water experiences in 90 knot winds and
12 metre seas, as I spent plenty of time "chumming" in relatively
calm seas while aboard an aircraft carrier during the Vietnam War.
:-)

Ed Schulz
email: eschulz at gte.net
Phone: (425) 259-6877
Everett, WA

----------
> From: Jack Bowling <jbowling at direct.ca>
> To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
> Subject: Re. the plot sickens even more
> Date: Friday, February 13, 1998 5:55 AM
>
> ** Reply to note from Michael Price -
> > Could there be a connection to some of the rough weather we've
been getting?
> > A few days ago a storm along the mid-BC coast had winds over
200 km/hr (120
> > mph) and there's been a series of almost daily blasters--strong
gales to
> > storm-force--rolling up along the coast from the SW for the
last couple of
> > weeks.
>
> Albatrosses are made for wind. I was on a ship caught in a
rapidly deepening low pressure
> system off Japan in early 1984 in which the winds were gusting
over 90 knots, 12 metre seas,
> etc., etc. Many of the birds had taken refuge on the ship'
superstructure by that time including
> Black-legged Kittiwakes and a Dusky Thrush that had been lucky
enough to run into us during the
> storm. The only birds still on the wing with seemingly no ill
effects were the albatrosses.
> However, I doubt that any birds caught in such weather could
touch down to feed. Thus, if caught
> for long enough in rough weather, a bird may eventually succumb
to starvation and be too weak
> to fight its way through the wind. This weakness from lack of
nutrition is likely the cause of
> mass groundings rather than the winds themselves. And I am not
sure if I would agree with
> Dennis about Laysan's being as common as Black-footed Albatrosses
off the N.A. coast this
> time of year. They are more common than in the summer, but
numbers of Black-footeds are still
> higher.
>
> - Jack
>
> ------------------
> Jack Bowling
> Prince George, BC
> jbowling at direct.ca
>
> cc: dpaulson at ups.edu