Gould, P. J. 1963 (Wedge-tailed Shearwater) 3 The ship was moving at a fairly constant speed of 8.5 knots between these observations. //Theory// A shearwater flying ca. 5' above the water can probably detect another bird the same height above the water at about 5 miles range. Shearwaters wander about the ocean singly or in groups of 2-4 in a normal and stable hunting flight pattern. When they come upon a food source their behavior changes--faster flying, more up and down soaring, etc. This attracts other birds to the food source. Other birds should be attracted from as far away as they can see the feeding bird--(at least 5 miles by the above figuring and since they get higher than 5' on occasion this observation distance should be greater. The above data shows that no birds were seen 38 minutes before the flock was reached or ca. 60 minutes after the flock had passed (since this flock was near ship for ca. 5 min.). At 8.5 knots this means that there were no birds on either side of the flock (in two directions at least) for 8.5 miles on one side and ca. 5.4 miles on the other. So this might indicate effective dispersal capacity for the birds and if the birds used it to perfection there should be 1 bird per area= [circle with '5 mi'] =a circle with a 5 mile radius. (Roughly this would mean that the birds could effectively utilize the area with 1 bird every 5 miles. "If birds were at maximum deployment then only 5 birds could probably utilize each food source." September 6--2nd day out Oahu, Hawaiian Is., Pacific Ocean Watching these and other shearwaters and Petrels today it appears that a majority are following along the path of the wavetroughs. {shearwater} wave crest {path} trough They appear to change troughs frequently to preserve a straight course (always