Feathered Friday- The Fire-Spreading Hawks Of Australia

Howdy folks, this is my submission for the great @keithboone and his #featheredfriday challenge.

Guys.. I saw this article about these nutso birds in Northern Australia and I've posted about them before but thought it would be a good fit for the #featheredfriday tag.

I know there are droughts in Australia and I can just imagine the fire potential in the Northern Grasslands with parched soil and dry grass! Yikes..so there can be a fire going that the firefighters are working like the dickens to put out.. and then these yahoos show up!

What they do is swoop down and grab a burning stick and fly off with it to an unburned area of grass located next to a clearing or a road. In this photo they are gathered to catch prey that runs from the fire into the road.

source

They drop the burning stick and start a fire, thus forcing the rodents and reptiles and such out into the open where they can snatch them up! lol. It's clever..actually brilliant for a bird-brain..but then the firefighters have another fire to contend with.

Is that the craziest thing you ever heard of birds doing? I mean this is using tools and strategic planning! There are three kinds of Fire birds which do this. The Black Kites, Whistling Kites and the Brown Falcon.

here's a Brown Falcon:

source

Not only that but they'll go to a fire which is all but extinguished and burning out because it is up against a river or some natural barrier, and they pick up burning embers and take them to the other side of the natural barrier and restart the fire there!

Here is a description by an Aboriginal man named Waipuldanya:

"I have seen a hawk pick up a smoldering stick in its claws and drop it in a fresh patch of dry grass half a mile away, then wait with its mates for the mad exodus of scorched and frightened rodents and reptiles."

source

The Aborigines have known about this and observed it for centuries but the white folk are just now finding out about it, of course.

Scientists are setting up a research group composed of them and Aboriginal ranger groups to see what they can discover about the way these birds work and what can be done about them.

Here they are, starting a fresh fire:

source

By the way, the Aborigines have inhabited and managed the grasslands with controlled burning for at least 50,000 years. Over millennia, Aboriginal people have accumulated an unparalleled understanding of this ecosystem and the animals that inhabit it —knowledge that is in danger of being lost as cultural traditions are abandoned by the younger generations.

It's a shame that this knowledge is being lost but the government will spend millions on this research project I'm sure.. but my question is..why don't they just ask the Aborigines about those birds?

Here's a Black Kite close to a fire at the McArthur River Mine in Northern Territory in 2013:

source

Thanks for reading folks, God bless you all!
-jonboy
Texas