On Nov 15, 3:59*am, Scott Alexander
wrote:
So in a recent conversation with a greatly experienced soaring pilot,
I was told that Buzzard's have terrible thermaling skills. I tend to
agree with this as it sure seems Buzzards don't get into the core and
stay there. The lesson learned was don't let Turkey Buzzard show you
where the core is, just let them lead you to the thermal.

I thought it would be interesting to ask you good people if anyone has
any knowledge on these issues. *Does anyone know which broad winged
birds have better or worse centering techniques that you can use to
your advantage?

SA

Red Tailed Hawks and their brethren seem to be the best at
thermalling, they have helped me numerous times.

Turkey Vultures are great for following, IF they are going up, once
they hit the thermal all hell breaks loose and they thermal in very
unruly groups. They seem to be really good at finding micro-lift
threads.

Swallows and Swifts don't seem to really "thermal", I suspect they
just get sucked straight up while chasing bugs............but I've
seen these guys many times at cloudbase bombing around like fighter
planes.

Soaring would be a lonely place without our raptor friends!

Brad