Do birds do recreational flying?

[nomadpete]

I'll start with today's observation:

 

Nice day today. Well, a nice Tassie day. BOM gave us a high wind warning. There was a nice brief break in the rain, and that's when it happened. Our house is high on a hill. It's 700' AGL. As I stood looking out,  wondering if I had time to bring more firewood inside before the rain returned, our local wedgetail zapped overhead. His wings were part folded, like they do when diving on prey. He pulled up in a graceful arc, slowing as he rose vertically. Just before stalling, he rolled into another dive. He dropped like a stone, at eagle VNE, pulled up vertical again. Again, just before stall, he rolled to the other side into another dive. Incredibly, he did his routine a third time as he disappeared between the trees down the hill.
I guess he was just so delighted to see a break in the rain, he couldn't help himself. In that few seconds, I felt his exuberance, and sheer joy of flight.

I don't think I'd have ever done it so close to the ground though.

[facthunter]

To fly like a bird you'd have to be one. They fly for thousands of miles just using the fat they've built up for it Their wingtips are slotted flaps. They probably "feel" the slightest of air currents.. Nev

[rgmwa]

Practising stalls? Showing off? Typical pilot behaviour?

[facthunter]

The difference is birds are very skilled at it. They stall onto a small tree branch with ease. Catch thermals by flying in circles. Never spin in. They do hit windows sometimes though. Nev

[nomadpete]

It was repeating a fully acrobatic manoeuvre. So was obviously breaching Recreational flying rules. It was something between a chandelle and a loop but he repeated it precisely and gracefully. I think it was the adolescent offspring of the pair that nest nearby. Just being a typical show off.

Edited September 18, 2021 by nomadpete

[rgmwa]

One of my earliest memories when I was about four was watching the seagulls glide effortlessly over our house and wishing I could do that.  All these years later and I'm still trying to do it.

Edited September 18, 2021 by rgmwa

[Old Koreelah]

Beautiful! No matter how good some human flyers get, they can’t come close to the majesty of birds.

 

A few months ago I posted this on another thread:

 

[APenNameAndThatA]

12 hours ago, nomadpete said:

It was repeating a fully acrobatic manoeuvre. So was obviously breaching Recreational flying rules. It was something between a chandelle and a loop but he repeated it precisely and gracefully. I think it was the adolescent offspring of the pair that nest nearby. Just being a typical show off.

Sounds like he was playing, as young animals do. 

[duncan_rtfm]

Some years ago my wife and I visited Muriwai (on the coast near Auckland) and watched fascinated as hundreds of Gannets did great big circles out to sea and then back towards the rocks, skimming the cliffs by mere inches.  And then off they'd go again for another circuit.  I followed a single bird on his circuit, and he flew with amazing precision, time and time again.  Truly amazing.  Just having fun it looked like.

[IBob]

NomadPete, we have a very big native pigeon here in NZ, called a kereru. Like most pigeons, there's a lot of noise and flap when they first take off, but also like most pigeons, they go very well once they get going.
During the summer season, they pull a manoeuvre much as you describe: from fast horizontal flight, a tight curved gliding pull up into the vertical , tipping back into a dive just on stall, then a curved gliding pull out. And in steep bush country, I've seen it combined with what topdressing pilots here used to call a split-arsed turn: the pigeon shot out of the bush on a steep hillside, tight curved pull up with a  wingover just on stall, down, pull out and shot back into the bush where he came out.

Either way, it's lovely to watch. And they're not bug eaters, so I'm pretty sure it's recreational.

 

We also have harrier hawks here, they are our only true raptors: they normally soar along hillsides and fencelines at no more than 100-200' looking for lunch. But I've also seen them swooping and rolling up under cloud, and I'm sure they are playing in the turbulence.

Edited September 18, 2021 by IBob

[440032]

16 hours ago, rgmwa said:

Practising stalls? Showing off? Typical pilot behaviour?

Next they'll be wearing gigantic watches with lots of buttons!

[IBob]

1 hour ago, 440032 said:

Next they'll be wearing gigantic watches with lots of buttons!

M........and RayBans.

We had the aerobatics champs here a couple of times, and the airfield was a sea of RayBans........)

[Yenn]

I was in the Warrambungles some time ago and up near one of the peaks several of us sat on a bit of a lookout to have lunch. We then noticed a group of crows who had been perched on a tree branch. They left together and flew up a few hundred feet, then closed their wings and tumbled through the sky, opening and closing their wings to make a loud noise, all followed by them back to their perch and a chorus of cawing. They did this another time, obviously an encore.

Many birds do play, especially Babblers, who are amazing to watch, but that is always while they are non flying.

[Flightrite]

Many many moons ago in the 80's I was down on the Southern Vic coast line just outside of Apollo Bay (a place that's commercially stuffed now!) flying a toy R/C glider off the Mariners Lookout site (goat track access way back then) when a large wedgy came cruising on by from behind me to see what species was invading it's territory for food. We both cruised around a while but then in a blink of an eye the wedgy folded his wings & went into a dive heading my way! A few sharp turns I avoided the bird even looping but he followed (although birds don't loop too well as he kinds flicked off at the top) until he swooped past from a side attack, the glider flinched but continued on for a few seconds normally till suddenly the wing folded up! The main fuz went spiraling down towards the black berry bushes below & one wing panel fluttered away in the breeze with the wedgy following it till impact. Bird flew away obviously gloating & I spent the rest of the day trying to find what's left of the toy glider......it's still out there !:-( Some species of birds will shadow a toy plane & even swoop it, seen it many times over many years.

Ive killed a few birds over the years, they sure do make a mess!

[facthunter]

A couple of times I've had a wedgetail attack the drifter I was flying. They easily go faster than I can. and come from behind.  I've seen the dent in a C-180 wing go back to the spar, but that's a bird strike rather than an attack. I've had near misses in the MIA near Griffith at around 8,000 feet I think they ride thermals when half asleep. Nev

[kgwilson]

Sometimes months will go by without seeing a single bird at any altitude, then on Friday I encountered 3 black backed bin chickens at about 1500 feet while climbing out only about 50 metres away in a tight arrowhead formation & shortly after that a Wedgie just under the 2500 ft cloudbase. He just continued to do his thing as I was not in contention for his airspace. If Wedgies see some sort of issue they roll over & dive out of the way really fast.

 

I had quite a few Kereru (Wood Pigeons) living in my patch of bush in NZ & they did exactly what iBob said in the Summer. They are the worlds largest pigeon & according to the old Maori bloke who lived up the road, taste delicious. Apparently that was from before they became scarce & got to be a protected species.

 

Also back in the 80s when I was Hang Gliding we used to encounter the NZ native Falcon, Karearea, when soaring the coastal ridge at a place called Ruapuke near Raglan. Occasionally one would soar along and tuck itself under the wing of the glider no more than 3 metres away and we would look at one another. He would keep perfect time with me when I turned and there was only the tiniest of movement of a tail or wingtip feather. He'd fly with me for several minutes and then without warning peel off at high speed and disappear. Why else would a bird do this if not for its own enjoyment.

[IBob]

Yes kgwilson, I don't know what I was thinking when I said the harrier is the only NZ raptor.

Pretty rare to see a falcon in the parts I have lived, though we did have a young one visited our garden in Havelock North one winter. Initially we crept around to get a better look without scaring it off: it then became evident that it wasn't in the least bit worried about us, sat low in a tree just looking at us, then finally left when it felt like it. You're a lucky man to have flown with one!
Somebody who knew somebody I knew did a degree study on them: it seems they come in 2 varieties, bush and open country, with quite different flight characteristics, as you might expect.

[cscotthendry]

Do birds do recreational flying?

The Galahs certainly do! They also hang upside down from powerlines like some lesser skilled pilots.

[440032]

And the odd ferris wheel.

[red750]

I don't know about recreational flying, but they can do some pretty awesome aerobatics, sky dances, and many other things. Watch this-

 

[nomadpete]

Early in my glider flying I had an encounter with an eagle. I had not long gained my cross country endo and still nervous when going out of glide from the airstrip. An instructor was taking someone out for a modest X/C and invited me to tag along. 

"Build your confidence, we'll mark the thermals for you. Besides, you've got a GPS, map, and radio"

It was a nice day. So I tagged along in the Hornet (single seater).

My confidence grew as we went. Then we had to cross a patch of tiger country. Toward the top of a thermal, I lost sight of the other glider, they had headed off whilst my back was turned. I called up on the radio, to get a compass bearing of their track. No answer. Radio dead. Battery flat. Examined the sky for hints of the next thermal in range. No hints there. Suddenly I was on my own over tiger country and without a way out. WIth sweaty palms I desperately searched for lift. The trees got bigger. And bigger. Finally I turned into a bubble of rising air. It wasn't much but I clung to that . Tight circles just above stall, gaining a couple of feet at each turn. I was staving off the inevitable, all confidence in my abilities trashed. Just as I got a thousand feet of air between myself and the trees, I glanced to the side and there just off my wingtip was an eagle effortlessly circling with me!  If he came to share 'my' thermal, it must be the best one around! If he came to the thermal I was working, my skills weren't all that bad.  From time to time he looked across at me. I mentally thanked him for sharing his backyard with me. I relaxed slightly and continued scratching for height. It all ended well. But by the time I got 'home' I was totally exhausted.

One of my greatest delights is watching an eagle thermalling, just off my wingtip.

Edited September 21, 2021 by nomadpete
gotta tern off autocorrect

[Old Koreelah]

This photographer has captured a unique view of bird flight:

 

 

[sfGnome]

Awesome!

[Flightrite]

Some people’s idea of ‘art’ is tragic!😂

[onetrack]

Our family raised a wedgetail eagle from a chick, back in the late '70's. We had a 5 acre block on the outskirts of a country town in the W.A. wheatbelt, back then.

We used to do a lot of farmland clearing in that era, and finding nests in downed trees was common. We took home this big wedgetail chick we found in a nest in a felled tree, and raised him to adulthood.

Couldn't do it today, too many wildlife laws, we'd be hung drawn and quartered for not having a wildlife permit, taking a protected species, and a dozen other laws, I probably don't even know about.

 

He was about the size of a domestic chook when we found him, and we fed him on meat scraps. He got called "Samson" (he of the great strength). 

I must say I've never encountered an animal so utterly fearless, and which never ever displayed any kind of emotion. Cats will purr, dogs will wag their tails - eagles just stare at you, probably measuring you up for food potential.

You'd feed him a chop bone, and it would be "gulp", down the hatch, and he'd gaze around without any display of thanks or anything. But he was truly regal - and the cats and dogs shat themselves whenever they spotted him, and they slunk away.

 

He was nothing but down when we picked him up, and within a few weeks he started getting feathers - and getting bigger. So we let have the run of the yard outside the house, and he'd taxi up and down the yard trying his newly feathered wings out. His wingspan, even as a newly-feathered big chick, was truly impressive.

He never tried to leave the house or yard area, and as he grew, he learnt to fly a few dozen yards - then he'd fly across the road and perch on the big (500mm) raised water main pipeline that ran the water into town.

 

He'd just perch there for hours and watch the odd passing car with his regal stare. Then he'd start taking forays into the areas around town, going away for an hour or two at a time, then returning to perch on the pipeline.

Then came the day he simply flew away, and never returned. I trust he found a mate and lived a long life. The authorities did a study into wedgetail behaviour after complaints by farmers that they were taking lambs.

They were not a protected species back then, and farmers would shoot them mercilessly.

 

But the study found that 90% of the bones in wedgetail nests were rabbit and small marsupial bones, and the authorities concluded the ones spotted "taking lambs" were merely stripping the flesh from newly dead lambs, and it was quite rare for wedgetails to swoop on, and pick up healthy lambs. However, there's a photo on the 'net of a wedgetail carrying off a fox, which is no mean feat, and something I have never seen one do. The foxes are usually too cunning, and excellent at hiding.

 

Their talons are fearful things, razor sharp, and the strength of their grip of their talons is amazing.

 

Edited November 28, 2021 by onetrack