Firehawks - The Crazy Fire Starters of Australia

howdy folks and greetings from the Great Plains of North Texas!

Guys.. I saw this article about these nutso birds in Northern Australia
and wanted to see if anyone has heard of this phenomenon, especially
my wonderful Steemit friends from Down Under.

I know there are droughts going on there and just imagine the fire
potential in the Northern Grasslands with parched soil and dry grass!
Yikes..so you may have a fire going on 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.

Then 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 it's 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:

Not only that but they will 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 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."

So 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.

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?

Birds are alot smarter than we thought though and I'm sure we'll be
even more impressed when they finish the study.
(all photos are from livescience.com)

Thanks so much for reading folks!
-jonboy Texas
the gentleman redneck

ya know...you might just be a redneck if:

You throw a beer can out the truck window and your wife shoots it!