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Bird strikes on planes

4 Comments »15th February, 2007; Category: Bird Behaviour, Birds in the News, General

Birds and planes don’t mix all that well. A bird flying into a plane can cause some very serious damage to the plane, endangering the lives of those on board. Sadly, it doesn’t do much for the bird either.

While there have been few serious bird strikes on planes in Australia in recent years, they still number in the hundreds of incidents annually. Worldwide the cost is estimated to be over $US3 billion. The article I read about this made no mention of how many birds are killed annually in this way. The toll must be enormous.

The most common bird strikes on planes at the Melbourne Airport are, in order:

  • Common Starlings
  • Australian Magpies
  • Ravens
  • Pigeons
  • Straw-Necked Ibis

Alarmingly, in recent years there have been three incidents involving emus and planes. Presumably these were on the ground during landing or take-off. As yet, I’ve not heard of any flying emus.

Links:

Birds of a Feather and love birds

No Comments »14th February, 2007; Category: Bird Behaviour, Birders, General

I’ve never been one to observe St Valentine’s Day because I believe that every day should be a special day for the one that you love. Many people do observe the day, however, and the Audubon web site has a special St Valentine’s Day feature to help birders celebrate this day in a special way.

They have three special features:

  • Avian love birds – special courting behaviours in birds.
  • Human love birds – interviews with couples who met through birding activities or clubs.
  • Green gift ideas – some ideas for gifts that will benefit the birds.

To read more click here.

Some unusual visitors to our bird bath

1 Comment »13th February, 2007; Category: Bird baths, Garden birds, General

I have written on a number of occasions about the birds that visit the bird bath in our garden. (Click here for one article with several photos.)

A non-bird visitor to the bird bath

While having lunch yesterday a Stumpy Tail Lizard (also called a Shingleback Lizard, one of the Blue Tongue Lizards of Australia), came wandering through the garden towards to bird bath on the ground. He paused to gobble down a few eremophila flowers before having long drink from the bird bath. He probably stayed for some five minutes, drinking deeply a number of times, before wandering off again.

Stumpy Tailed Lizard

Stumpy Tailed Lizard

A very cheeky visitor

Then late last night at just after 10pm I was outside seeing off a friend who had come to visit for the evening. We were standing about ten metres from the bird bath which was on the ground. As we were saying goodnight, we both stopped and turned because we had heard loud slurping noises coming from the bird bath.

As it was in the shadows I stepped inside, grabbed a touch and found that a Red Fox (an introduced species) had been visiting the bird bath for a drink. He casually wandered off in the beam of the torch light, quite unconcerned about my presence a few metres away. I’m not sure if I’m pleased that he feels quite at home in our garden. I must warn our next door neighbour to lock up her chooks and guinea fowl.

I didn’t get a photo of the fox.
Related Articles:

Birds in the News

No Comments »13th February, 2007; Category: Birds in the News, General

A digest of articles called Birds in the News #70 has just been posted in the blog called Living the Scientific Life.

There are links to many interesting articles about birds that have featured in the news over the last week or so, including some on endangered birds.

Birds in Tasmania

No Comments »13th February, 2007; Category: Blogs, Photos

If you want to see some beautiful photos of Australian birds, can I recommend the blog Birds in Tasmania?

Tasmania, the island state to the south of the Australian mainland, has a rich fauna a flora and has several species of birds only found there. I have yet to experience the delights of birding and touring Tasmania, so looking at this site is the next best thing. The site has a group of contributors who blog about their birding experiences in Tasmania. Each post is usually accompanied by a series of photos of the birds seen. These photos are always of the highest quality. Highly recommended.

Link:

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