Do winged animals like birds ever suffer comparable mishaps to those of human-made aircraft, such as aerodynamic stall, wing icing or hard landing? (continued)
Herman D鈥橦ondt
Sydney, Australia
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This question reminded me of the landing technique of two species of birds. The wedge-tailed shearwater, or mutton bird, as it is known in Australia, nests in burrows on Pacific islands. It spends the day catching fish, returning after dark to feed its young. The problem is that it is very dark in the forests where the burrows are. That doesn鈥檛 deter the mutton bird though. It just flies downwards between the trees until it hits something 鈥� hopefully the ground. Then it picks itself up and searches for its burrow.
The 办腻办腻辫艒, a flightless parrot, lives in New Zealand. It has been described as 鈥渢he bird that has forgotten that it has forgotten how to fly鈥�. When startled, it often climbs up a tree. Then, when the coast is clear, it launches itself into the air.
One assumes that, shortly before the crash, it thinks, 鈥淥ops, I just remembered something鈥︹��
Paul Douglas
Wellington, New Zealand
I have been living rough on the outskirts of Wellington for over six and a half years now. I have blackbirds that deliberately make hard landings on my tent roof when they want to be fed. If I don鈥檛 respond immediately, they will try stomping or fluttering their wings.
John Davies
Lancaster, UK
Birds have evolved consummate control systems for flight in almost all conditions, but landings can catch them out. This is especially true for those that spend all their time above or on the sea, but that must land to breed. Shearwaters choose to land at night to make it even more difficult, while puffins and albatrosses have difficulty making it look easy in the day. Albatrosses also tend to need to take off into the wind. On the other hand, land-based waterfowl can be fooled by ice-covered water, and , as others have noted, are notorious for taking a tarmac road to be a convenient river!
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