Birds -- Interesting Facts

[IzzieK]

Rule No. 1: Don't hit them with your aircraft -- it makes a smelly mess and can do severe damage to your airplane if it comes through the canopy or windshield, it will give you a headache.

Fast Facts:

1. Peregrine Falcons have been clocked at 217mph in a dive. So if it passes you, just wave and let it go -- it is about to smack into some unsuspecting prey ahead and below you.

2. Guess who is the fastest in wing flapping flight? You got it! A Swift (real bird not an airplane) can do 105mph. Don't expect to do formation with one... they are not checked out in formation nor do they have a FAST (Formation and Safety Team) card.

3. The heaviest bird is a Great Bustard (no, that is not a misspell). Those suckers can go up to 40 lbs or more and if they are too heavy, they cannot take off. (Pretty much like an overloaded aircraft.) Under no circumstances hit one of those with your aircraft.

4. The largest bird -- the wandering albatross -- wingspan of 12 feet or more and they can glide for hours without beating their wings. They may even sleep while gliding (sounds like a few pilots I know...)

5. Smallest? Hummingbirds of course. They are also the international acrobatic champions, despite claims to the contrary of many National Acrobatic Teams. They can hover, fly backwards, inverted, sideways and anything else you can think of.

6. Altitude champion? Ruppell's vultue. Evidence: collision with an airliner at FL410.

Birds are VFR only (Visual Flight Rules). They are not trained or qualified on instruments but they do have a built in GPS that can get them from Alaska to New Zealand.

So there you have it -- all the useless information you can possibly need when flying in the realm of birds.

[Shadowman]

Which bird (flyer only) can dive the deepest in water? I don't know the answer but would like to know.

[chauncey]

Izzie...I probably would not have suffered had I never read those tidbits of bird wisdom.

[dabhand]

Which bird (flyer only) can dive the deepest in water? I don't know the answer but would like to know.

John - seeing as you've restricted it to flying birds my guess would be an Imperial Cormorant, otherwise it would have to be a penquin.

steve

[Geoff F]

The often underestimated Guillemot can dive surprisingly deep.

And I seem to remember something about the ordinary pigeon being one of the fastest birds in rising flight. And actually jumps upwards from the ground so it has a full sweep of its wings on the initial beat.

[Shadowman]

John - seeing as you've restricted it to flying birds my guess would be an Imperial Cormorant, otherwise it would have to be a penquin.

steve

Steve,

Thanks for the info. I had to look up how deep they can go (45 meters) and also discovered that they can be trained by fisherman to do the work for them.

[Shadowman]

The often underestimated Guillemot can dive surprisingly deep.

And I seem to remember something about the ordinary pigeon being one of the fastest birds in rising flight. And actually jumps upwards from the ground so it has a full sweep of its wings on the initial beat.

Geoff,

Thanks for the reference point, the Guillemot might just have the Cormorant beat at 70 meters.

[FootLoose]

I'm disappointed that pelicans didn't get a mention. I guess riding thousands of kilometres on thermals is too easy.

[Bobobird]

Where are the pics?

[IzzieK]

Where are the pics?

It did not come with any Bobo ...that came from our club's newsletter because we are going to have our annual fly-in at Dayton, Ohio this early June. One of our members from Texas had an encounter in last year's fly-in at Tennessee (our headquarters) so the warning for this year's event at Dayton. I just thought it will be interesting to share...

[NorthernFocus]

A few interesting tidbits in here and delivered with good humor.

Here's another one for you though with bland delivery.

Though an adult bald eagle only weighs in at around 14 lbs(6.5kg), there eyeballs are the same size as those of an adult human.

[dabhand]

Obscure fact # whatever - if you get a hen and gently tuck its head under a wing it will go to sleep - I once showed this to my son and daughter when they were young and visiting an aunts farm - you can guess what happened next - loads of hens gently snoozing away in the stackyard - aunt not impressed !!!

[IzzieK]

Obscure fact # whatever - if you get a hen and gently tuck its head under a wing it will go to sleep - I once showed this to my son and daughter when they were young and visiting an aunts farm - you can guess what happened next - loads of hens gently snoozing away in the stackyard - aunt not impressed !!!

Very funny Steve. Of course Auntie will not be pleased -- instead of the fowls laying eggs they were sleeping.

[Wavelength]

great information..... thank you very much Isa..... and i just can't believe the thing about hen; i can't wait to experiment and remove my disbelief.....

[jamn4ex]

I cant remember my source but I read that a hawk uses 75% of its brain for vision alone. Allowing it to take in at much greater resolution than humans.

[IzzieK]

Sounds familiar James...