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#71
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In article , Tony Verhulst
flippin' ridge. They had their wings tucked in real close and were just ?zipping along. T hey were at ridge top level about 30 feet in front of us ?and it was just amazing. I can only guess at what their airspeed was, ?but they were probably moving across the ridge at 20 to 30mph and so ?when you factor in the 90+ mph wind speed, their ASIs were probably ?hitting near 130. You'll never convince me they were flying to catch ?lunch - they were flying because they were having a blast. Of this I ?have absolutely no doubt.??Tony V. LS6-b "6N"? I wonder what Vne is for a raven? -- Mike Lindsay |
#72
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I wonder what Vne is for a raven? African or European? :-) Tony -- All good things arrive unto them that wait - and don't die in the meantime. Mark Twain |
#73
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I wonder what Vne is for a raven?
African or European? :-) Tony And is it carrying coconuts shells? take care Blll |
#74
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For that matter, what the heck are red-tails doing
up at FL180 in the middle of the summer. They sure are not spotting food or migrating. And what sort of O2 saturation levels are they maintaining? At 15:36 16 July 2004, Bllfs6 wrote: I wonder what Vne is for a raven? African or European? :-) Tony And is it carrying coconuts shells? take care Blll |
#75
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Although Ravens are corvids not raptors they do take
live prey as well as carrion. There is no reason in the world why they should not be hunting for food. Flying takes a great deal of energy and like most animals birds fly for a reason, they don't waste energy which requires more food. Whether they enjoy themselves at the same time is debateable. Ravens are also renowned for their intelligence, in the brid sense, but that is not saying a great deal. The description 'birdbrain' was coined for a reason and most of a birds brain is taken up in processing it's senses. This does not leave a lot for thinking. Come to think of it.................. no, better not go there :-) At 18:48 12 July 2004, Tony Verhulst wrote: ??Back in my hang gliding days I participated in a competition at ?Grandfather Mountain in North Carolina - about an 800 foot cliff ?followed by another 800 feet of mountain Ð and the cliff was part of a ?soarable ridge. Grandfather mountain is a tourist attraction with a road ?to the top and a gift shop at the summit. We knew we weren't going to ?soar that day because we had trouble walking into the gift shop. The ?weather station inside was reporting winds in excess of 90 mph. But the ?wind direction was perfect - dead on the ridge.??We didn't soar that day but the local residents did. They have ravens at ?Grandfather mountain - lots of ravens. We were literally hanging on to ?any thing we could because we were afraid of being blown off the ?mountain. And, walking across that suspension bridge between the 2 peaks ?was probably not the smartest move. Anyway, the ravens were soaring the ?flippin' ridge. They had their wings tucked in real close and were just ?zipping along. T hey were at ridge top level about 30 feet in front of us ?and it was just amazing. I can only guess at what their airspeed was, ?but they were probably moving across the ridge at 20 to 30mph and so ?when you factor in the 90+ mph wind speed, their ASIs were probably ?hitting near 130. You'll never convince me they were flying to catch ?lunch - they were flying because they were having a blast. Of this I ?have absolutely no doubt.??Tony V. LS6-b '6N'? |
#76
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A few years back I drove out to Dead Horse Point in southeast Utah
late on a summer day. For a week it had been hot with overdevelopment which didn't actually produce rain or even much wind. But it was gonna do it this evening. You could smell ozone. Hell, you could practically smell the ocean for how much water the thunderheads were packing. I walked to the edge and looked out over the lodge-pole fence into a breeze that was freshening around 25kts. There were two big ravens soaring the cliff face. That experience put all doubt behind me. The rain was coming, and life was easy, if just for that little while. They skidded, stalled and dropped out front. They tucked and raced along the edge. They got high way back and zoomed through the compression zone. They played. When the rain came I ran to my truck. There was so much wind that my shocks lurched just sitting in the parking lot. I suppose the birds left. I couldn't see them for the downpour. But I thought about a couple hotshots kicking back in a hanger somewhere smiling and trading "there I was" stories. |
#77
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One time I went hang gliding on the ridge out at Randolf, Utah. This
ridge is perhaps 5-10 miles long and a big rookery for buzzards. I flew lazily that evening for a couple hours enjoying the avian company and then landed at the bottom with the zillion mosquitos, because I feared that if I top-landed and hurt myself it might be a long time before someone found me. Anyway, that meant I had to walk back up to get my truck. A fer piece. So I was walking this dirt road close to twilight, and I was thinking about the nice flight and how when it's good it's really good, when I spotted a jack rabbit sitting up ahead maybe 20 yards. And BAM! A Red Tail hawk slammed into the rabbit and crashed in a rolling dusty heap of wings and fur. But he didn't let go! And in a second he righted himself on top of the stunned or dead bunny and flapped like there was no tomorrow until he'd cleared the sage and the stupid human walking his way. I lost sight of him as he cleared the mouth of the canyon. Incredible. I had this notion that they could just pick 'em off like the proverbial surgical strike. But hell no. I walked away thinking... undignified. |
#78
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David wrote:
I had this notion that they could just pick 'em off like the proverbial surgical strike. But hell no. I walked away thinking... undignified. All surgical strikes look like that from the rabbit's point of view. -- Jack "Cave ab homine unius libri" |
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