On 3/26/2011 5:59 PM, Habib, Michael wrote:
Shearwaters, for example, can take off from a level surface without any problem at all if they have sufficient room.
Could you clarify, perhaps by citing a species that has one, what you would consider qualifies as a 'takeoff problem'?
Condors are constantly referred to as being incapable of launching without gusts, but no one has ever shown this to be the case, and videographers have caught them ground-launching in still air under duress.
How do you know the air was still? Was the slope level? What was the crop condition of the subjects? Full, empty, something in between?