A cousin of mine who is an ornithologist at Cornell told me there is a pack mentality with many of the raptors. They see other birds circling and they go check it out.
That being said, watching a hawk thermal on their own you know they are doing more than just looking around for signs of lift. He explains it by hypothesizing that they are just extremely sensitive to movement across their wings. They learn to soar, so over time they know what "14th feather on the left going up" means. JE -- Erickson Architects John R. Erickson, AIA > From: "Tom H. Nagel" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: Mon, 20 Oct 2003 16:33:59 -0700 > To: "RCSE" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: [RCSE] [RCSE]Vulture Vario > > While flying Sunday afternoon, it crossed my mind that soaring birds must > have some sort of pretty good vario on board. Does anyone know of any > actual research on what they use for a vario? Is it anything more than > the inertial inner ear pit of the stomach thing we sense when going up in an > elevator? > I had a ride in a Schweitzer years ago, and could distinctly feel it > when we hit lift or sink. But once in the lift or sink, the inner ear/pit > of stomach settled down and I couldn't tell lift from sink without the > vario. Are soaring birds any different? > > > RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and > "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please note that > subscribe and unsubscribe messages must be sent in text only format with MIME > turned off. RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please note that subscribe and unsubscribe messages must be sent in text only format with MIME turned off.
