Bird strike at Adelaide Airport
Breaking News
I heard on local radio a few minutes ago that a plane taking off this morning from Adelaide Airport had to make an emergency landing a few minutes after take-off. The report stated that the plane had hit a flock of Galahs. The plane landed safely and no-one was hurt. How much damage there was to the engine was not stated. No mention of how many galahs died in the strike.
Bird strikes on planes have been a perpetual problem since planes took to the air. Many thousands – perhaps millions – of birds have been killed in this way. Most major airports have programmes in place to deal with this threat to airline safety. These attempts at restricting bird numbers at airports have met with varied amounts of success.
I guess that a Galah going through a jet engine has the potential to do a great deal of damage, especially to the poor Galah. When flying one has to put such things out of one’s mind. No use dwelling on the “what ifs.”
I suppose it has happened though I’ve never heard of a plane hitting a Pelican. These large birds would do considerable damage to a plane. Pelicans are known to fly at very high altitudes here in Australia, up to 3000 metres and more.
Even more worrying would be to hit an emu. Now – I know what you are thinking – emus don’t fly. Correct. Many of our country bush airstrips have the potential to have these large solid birds running across the runway on take-off or landing. Hitting an emu in a small plane could be nasty – for the plane. Most emus are so tough they’d probably just give a shake of the feathers and keep on running!
I wouldn’t like to put it to the test though.
Update:
Apparently there have been no less than three incidents involving planes and EMUS in recent years. For an article about bird strikes on planes in Australia click here.
Mother duck ducks off
No Comments »28th September, 2006; Category: Bird Behaviour, Birds in the News, Ducks Geese and Swans
This seems to be an annual event in the heart of the capital city of South Australia. A mother duck and her family of five ducklings were seen in King William Street yesterday morning. This is one of the city’s busiest thoroughfares and goes right through the middle of the CBD.
All the fuss caused by the incident prompted the mother to abandon her offspring, flying off and leaving them to the perils of the busy street. The little ones were soon rescued and put into foster care where they will be hand reared.
A report in the local newspaper said it appeared that the mother duck was taking her brood from Victoria Square in the middle of the city to the nearby River Torrens. This is a march of about a kilometre through the middle of the city. Almost every year there are reports similar to this one.
Larking around
Magpie Lark
There was an interesting item on a local television news broadcast this evening. It seems that a pair of Magpie Larks has been causing a few problems at the Festival Centre in the CBD of our state capital, Adelaide.
The report stated that a nesting pair of Magpie Larks was busy swooping every pedestrian who dared to use the footpath. The news footage used showed the Magpie Larks swooping low over people’s heads, pecking some of them.
I am very familiar with Australian Magpies swooping people who dare to venture near their nest. I’ve been swooped many times – but interestingly never by our resident pair that nests close to our house. But I’ve never been swooped by a Magpie Lark. Furthermore, I’ve never witnessed this behaviour in this species before, nor have I heard of anyone being swooped by a Magpie Lark.
Interestingly, the news reporter was sporting a nasty wound above his eye. He claimed to be a victim of a Magpie Lark attack earlier.
Magpie Lark
Something to Crow About?
This posting is about a news item from Tokyo, Japan. It seems that the local Crows are causing something of a problem.
The Times June 15, 2006 Crows hack into internest
Tokyo has become a victim of its own rush to go broadband. In the past six weeks, hundreds of homes and offices have reportedly been left without high-speed internet service after the crows discovered that broadband cable can be pecked into usable strips more easily than power cables or telephone copper wire ever could. Crows have discovered that the broadband cables, which are strung from telegraph poles across Tokyo, are the perfect consistency for building nests.
To read the full article click here.
Twitching in Australia
Twitching of birds is alive and well in Australia. A few days ago someone reported the first ever sighting in Australia of a Grey Headed Lapwing. A report today estimates that over 60 birders have so far been to see this bird at Burren Junction in northern New South Wales. Now this number is tiny when compared to twitching in the USA or the UK where literally thousands of birders descend on the location of rare birds. But considering the vast size of Australia and its small population, this is probably the most twitched bird in Australian birding history with many more birders likely to visit over the coming weekend.
And that is amazing considering that it is in a rather remote location. To get there would take many hours of driving from any of the capital cities. At least 4 hours from Brisbane or Sydney, possibly 10-12 hours from Melbourne and 15 hours from Adelaide. These are very, very rough estimates just to give some idea of the effort some Aussie birders put in just to see one bird.
To see a photo of a Grey Headed Lapwing click here. Note: I did not take the photo nor do I intend driving all that distance to do so.