andrewt@cs.su.oz (Andrew Taylor) (12/20/90)
In article <1990Dec18.162433.20027@cpsc.ucalgary.ca> edstrom@Elmer.cns.ucalgary.ca (John Edstrom) writes: > > I`ve heard that some birds are capable of prolonged flight and spend many > days in the air. I can believe this of birds like albatrosses that are adapted > to gliding. But I`ve heard also that some swallows will spend months in the > air without landing. This sounds a little far fetched to me. Outside migration I doubt if any swallows spend more than a day in the air. There would seem little reason for them not roosting at night. Some swifts spend months and perhaps even years on the wing. Similarly sooty terns spend almost all their time on the wing. They are birds of the open ocean but they can not land for long on the water before becoming waterlogged. Such birds are not easy to study, your best chance for more detailed information is probably work on the European Swift (Apus apus) Andrew