RE: How Pelicans learn to fish

["Thomas R. Holtz, Jr." <tholtz@umd.edu>]

> From: owner-DINOSAUR@usc.edu [mailto:owner-DINOSAUR@usc.edu] 
> On Behalf Of Mike Habib
> Sent: Tuesday, November 02, 2010 7:21 PM
> To: danchure@easilink.com
> Cc: dinosaur@usc.edu
> Subject: Re: How Pelicans learn to fish
> 
> The only diving birds that fold back the wings in a "knife" 
> position are gannets and boobies (i.e. sulidae).  Pelicans 
> actually don't tuck their wings all that far back on dives; I 
> doubt it's beyond the normal joint excursion for a modern bird.  
> 
And I can tell you from experience (having been snorkling during bird feeding 
featuring both boobies and pelicans): boobies dive
MUCH deeper as a consequence, while pelicans are mostly capturing near-surface 
fish.

Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
Email: tholtz@umd.edu   Phone: 301-405-4084
Office: Centreville 1216                        
Senior Lecturer, Vertebrate Paleontology
Dept. of Geology, University of Maryland
http://www.geol.umd.edu/~tholtz/
Fax: 301-314-9661               

Faculty Director, Science & Global Change Program, College Park Scholars
http://www.geol.umd.edu/sgc
Fax: 301-314-9843

Mailing Address:        Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
                        Department of Geology
                        Building 237, Room 1117
                        University of Maryland
                        College Park, MD 20742 USA