May 2, 2000

Why may the Swallow-tailed gulls have preferred to fish on the right side of the Odyssey as opposed to the left side?

Swallow-tailed gulls feed at night and appear to prefer feeding on the starboard, or right side of the boat where the navigational light is always green, rather than on the port side where it is red. The explanation for this preference in feeding may lie in the fact that the mammalian eye is more sensitive to green than to red.

Listen to Roger Payne's Voice from the Sea piece entitled:
The Swallow-Tailed Gull Appears

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