stick or twist? | 141For example, 91 Black- browed Albatrosses were studied, via GPS back-
packs, during the chick- guarding phase at Iles Kerguelen by Samantha
Patrick and Henri Weimerskirch.^14 The birds that subsequently raised
the chick to fledging generally showed less variation, in maximum range
(distance from colony to the trip position furthest from the colony, the
terminal point) and the latitude and longitude of that terminal point,
than did the birds that failed. Consistency paid.
Yet I cannot help wondering if the search for an advantage in consis-
tency may frequently prove as illusory as the quest for that pot of gold
at the end of the rainbow. Drawing on the idea of the ideal free distribu-
tion, the birds faithful to area A may fare as well in the lifetime stakes
as those faithful to area B. And those two groups may do neither better
nor worse than a third group that adopts a jack- of- all- trades lifestyle,
missing out on the putative benefits of developing familiarity with an
often- visited sea area, but having the compensation of sometimes hit-
ting temporary jackpots, seething shoals of catchable seafood. Let us now
explore where that food is most likely to be discovered.