Birds do it too...

On Friday, May 25, 2018 at 9:47:03 AM UTC-4, WB wrote:
Interesting article at The Scientist. Parallels between behavior of soaring birds and soaring pilots (I almost wrote "soaring humans".

original url:

https://www.the-scientist.com/?artic...hsmi=63231246/


Short url:

http://tiny.cc/mutzty

Add Anhingas to the list of good soaring birds!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anhing..._in_flight.jpg
Yes, these dorky-looking birds that dive-bomb after fish and then sit in trees with their wings spread out to dry off. I encountered flocks of them over SC, flying in neat stacked V-formations, only to see them break into this chaotic fur-ball when thermaling. They also don't seem to care about the FARs since I have seen them climb right into the cloud only to see them emerge out of the side of that cloud back in their neat V-formation.
Uli
'AS'

On Friday, May 25, 2018 at 7:23:35 PM UTC-5, AS wrote:
On Friday, May 25, 2018 at 9:47:03 AM UTC-4, WB wrote:
Interesting article at The Scientist. Parallels between behavior of soaring birds and soaring pilots (I almost wrote "soaring humans".

original url:

https://www.the-scientist.com/?artic...hsmi=63231246/


Short url:

http://tiny.cc/mutzty

Add Anhingas to the list of good soaring birds!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anhing..._in_flight.jpg
Yes, these dorky-looking birds that dive-bomb after fish and then sit in trees with their wings spread out to dry off. I encountered flocks of them over SC, flying in neat stacked V-formations, only to see them break into this chaotic fur-ball when thermaling. They also don't seem to care about the FARs since I have seen them climb right into the cloud only to see them emerge out of the side of that cloud back in their neat V-formation.
Uli
'AS'

Anhingas, otherwise known as "Water Turkeys", are my soaring totem. Three times I have been saved from landouts by spotting water turkeys thermalling nearby.