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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’Hondt
Sydney, Australia

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’t deter the mutton bird though. It just flies downwards between the…