Re: How Pelicans learn to fish

[Mike Habib <habib@jhmi.edu>]

Absolutely; in fact, there is at least one study that used a radar depth gauge 
to determine gannet dive depth, and they regularly went several meters below 
the surface.  I think the deepest dive was over 10 meters below the surface.  
The estimated drag coefficient for a gannet/booby entering the water is roughly 
the same as a plate of glass doing the same.

I have the paper stored away somewhere as PDF; I can pull it up if someone 
needs details.

Cheers,

--Mike H.


On Nov 3, 2010, at 11:24 AM, Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. wrote:

>> 
> 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