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    Default Flying Arsonists: Raptors Spreading Wildfires

    Australian birds have weaponized fire: Astonishing research indicates black kites are purposefully spreading wildfires

    Richard Warnica National Post
    Mon, 15 Jan 2018 03:41 UTC
    Raptors, including the whistling kite, are intentionally spreading grass fires in northern Australia, a research paper argues. The reason: to flush out prey and feast.
    Black kites (Milvus migrans) visit a grass fire in Borroloola, Northern Territory, Australia, in 2014. © Bob Gosford

    Dick Eussen thought he had the fire beat. It was stuck on one side of a highway deep in the Australian outback. But it didn't look set to jump. And then, suddenly, without warning or obvious cause, it did.

    Eussen, a veteran firefighter in the Northern Territory, set off after the new flames. He found them, put them out, then looked up into the sky.

    What he saw sounds now like something out of a fairy tale or dark myth. A whistling kite, wings spread, held a burning twig in its talons. It flew about 20 metres ahead of Eussen and dropped the ember into the brittle grass.

    And the fire kicked off once again.

    All told that day, Eussen put out seven new flare-ups, according to a research paper published recently in the Journal of Ethnobiology. All of them, he claims, were caused by the birds and their burning sticks.

    What's more, the paper argues, the birds might well have been doing it on purpose.

    Raptors, including the whistling kite, are intentionally spreading grass fires in northern Australia, the paper argues. The reason: to flush out prey and feast.

    "Black kites and brown falcons come to these fronts because it is just literally a killing frenzy, it's a feeding frenzy, because out of these grasslands come small birds, lizards, insects, everything fleeing the front of the fire," Bob Gosford, one of the authors of the paper, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) in 2016.

    The concept of fire-foraging birds is well established. Raptors on at least four continents have been observed for decades on the edge of big flames, waiting out scurrying rodents and reptiles or picking through their barbecued remains.

    What's new, at least in the academic literature, is the idea that birds might be intentionally spreading fires themselves. If true, the finding suggests that birds, like humans, have learned to use fire as a tool and as a weapon.

    Gosford, a lawyer turned ethno-ornithologist (he studies the relationship between aboriginal peoples and birds), has been chasing the arson hawk story for years. "My interest was first piqued by a report in a book published in 1964 by an Aboriginal man called Phillip Roberts in the Roper River area in the Northern Territory, that gave an account of a thing that he'd seen in the bush, a bird picking up a stick from a fire front and carrying it and dropping it on to unburnt grass," he told ABC.


    Black kites (Milvus migrans) circle near a roadway during a fire on the Cape York Peninsula in Queensland, Australia. © Dick Eussen

    Working with Marc Bonta, an American academic, Gosford searched the historical record for other reports of fire-spreading raptors in Australia. He solicited first-hand accounts of the behaviour online, then personally interviewed those who claimed to have witnessed it.

    What Bonta and Gosford found was that the idea of fire-spreading was well known and accepted among residents, and particularly aboriginals, of rural northern Australia. The researchers found first-hand reports of fire-spreading among 12 separate aboriginal groups, while three different species of raptor- the black kite, whistling kite and brown falcon - were definitively identified as fire spreaders.

    In the paper, Gosford, Bonta and their co-authors also reported six new first-hand accounts of birds spreading fire.

    "MJ," a Kimberley, (Western Australia) cattle station caretaker manager,
    "saw kites working together to move a late dry season fire across a river by picking up, transporting, and dropping small, burning sticks in grass, which immediately ignited in several places," they write.

    "The experience resulted in an uncontrollable blaze that destroyed part of the station's infrastructure."
    Bob White, a firefighter in the Northern Territory saw a small group of raptors, likely black kites,
    "pick up numerous smouldering sticks and transport them ahead of a fire front, successfully helping the blaze spread up a small valley."
    Nathan Ferguson claims to have observed fire spreading about a dozen times in the Northern Territory since 2001. The long-time firefighter is adamant that the birds he's observed - picking up twigs and starting new fires - were doing so on purpose.

    That jibes with the other research Gosford and Bonta dug up. "Most accounts and traditions unequivocally indicate intentionality on the part of three raptor species," they wrote.

    Despite years of trying, the authors also failed to find unequivocal photo or video evidence of the birds spreading fires. In the paper, they chalk that up, in part, to the difficulty and dangers of performing scientific research on the edge of a brush fire.

    There is a picture in the paper, though, taken by Eussen. It's in black and white and it shows a patch of sparse brush edging up on a rural road. In the background, smoke crowds the trees. Just visible behind the bush line is the low glow of a burning fire. In the foreground, above the road, dark shadows flap notched wings. The black kites have arrived, and they are ready for their frightened prey.
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    Default Re: Flying Arsonists: Raptors Spreading Wildfires

    When we think of birds using tools we usually think, crows, magpies, ravens, parrots ... not raptors. That said, I do suppose we give owls credit for being quite intelligent. There is no substitute for learning about our wonderful planet-mates then simply observing their magnificence.

    Thanks for the share Herve!

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    Default Re: Flying Arsonists: Raptors Spreading Wildfires

    Oh, WOW! Who would have thunk it?!!

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    Default Re: Flying Arsonists: Raptors Spreading Wildfires

    This is absolutely wild, yes thanks for sharing!
    It's really interesting how animals can learn to set traps for other animals, but with FIRE? Just wow....
    I started poking around reading more about animals setting traps and I found another surprise - animals who are using their own predators to their advantage! Slightly off topic but similarly amusing is "Female Guppies Risk Death To Avoid Sexual Harassment"

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    Default Re: Flying Arsonists: Raptors Spreading Wildfires

    Fascinating!

    I'm not totally sold on the intentionality of it just yet. If intentionality is in the mix maybe they are attempting to set a backfire since they know which way the wind blows. That spreads the fire but for another reason.
    Knock Knock

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    Default Re: Flying Arsonists: Raptors Spreading Wildfires

    Perhaps they can be trained in controlled burn techniques?

    We can outfit with mini flame throwers.....

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    Default Re: Flying Arsonists: Raptors Spreading Wildfires

    Quote Posted by O Donna (here)
    Fascinating!

    I'm not totally sold on the intentionality of it just yet. If intentionality is in the mix maybe they are attempting to set a backfire since they know which way the wind blows. That spreads the fire but for another reason.
    I think securing food would be the animal's first focus before firefighting ...


    Let me tell you about the corolla spider

    The corolla spider lives in an environment that is not at all conducive to web spinning. However it has an absolutely amazing way of catching prey using some silk web of its own making and some quartz crystals.

    The spider digs itself a burrow in the ground and during this process, looks for and isolates 6-8 very specifically sized and shaped quartz crystals, and after finishing digging the burrow, it places these crystals neatly in a circle around the outside of the burrow. It then attaches a piece of silk to each crystal and runs them down into the burrow and attaches the other ends of the silk to its legs.

    When a potential prey, or even a predator touch or rub these crystals, the silk strands carry the vibrations down to the spider inside the burrow and the spider can determine what approach the critter has taken, whch direction it is moving, approximate size, prey or predator, and can distinguish between animal and non animal vibrations.

    A quartz crystal is piezoelectric - which means it generates electricity when pressure is applied to it. It is said that the Corolla spider is actually reading these tiny electrical signals and that these signals carry more about what has touched the crystals than a mere vibration ... it may actually be reading the electrical signature of the critter outside its burrow ... is this how it can tell between prey or predator?

    It is using a tool -- the crystals for the electrical amplification - and it's own silk as the communication medium. It has created it's own "security system" complete with sensors and the electrical cabling needed - its body's own sensitivities to read the electrical signal.

    Mind blowing ...

    I'm not sold on the intentionality of that either ... did the spider intend to create this method of hunting / security? It certainly wasn't trial and error, nor evolution by random mutation that allowed this to happen. Was it by design? I(s it just yet another incredibly specific expression of Life itself? Whether intentional or not, this is how the Corolla spider hunts and stays safe -- a rather complex security system for its home ... food for thought

    More on the corolla spider: https://quantumbiologist.wordpress.c...ys-the-guitar/

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    Default Re: Flying Arsonists: Raptors Spreading Wildfires

    I have to share the true story told us by our very own Sierra, who lives in Northern California and had a relatively small (but scary) forest fire quite close to her house a few months ago. It burned for the best part of a couple of days, threatening to spread, before it was put out by firefighters.

    Apparently, the cause was a bear that had climbed a pylon, was electrocuted, caught on fire, fell to the ground, and then (still on fire!!) had run through the forest setting everything alight.

    The bear? It survived.

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    Default Re: Flying Arsonists: Raptors Spreading Wildfires

    Quote Posted by Navigator (here)

    I think securing food would be the animal's first focus before firefighting ...
    That's assuming the raptor hadn't already done that. Maybe the hunting was good and it had some free time.



    Enjoyed the spider read, so much to discover!

    Quote Posted by Bill Ryan (here)
    I have to share the true story told us by our very own Sierra, who lives in Northern California and had a relatively small (but scary) forest fire quite close to her house a few months ago. It burned for the best part of a couple of days, threatening to spread, before it was put out by firefighters.

    Apparently, the cause was a bear that had climbed a pylon, was electrocuted, caught on fire, fell to the ground, and then (still on fire!!) had run through the forest setting everything alight.

    The bear? It survived.
    @Bill

    Wow! How does one plan for scenarios like that?
    Last edited by O Donna; 18th January 2018 at 19:54.
    Knock Knock

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    Default Re: Flying Arsonists: Raptors Spreading Wildfires

    Quote Posted by O Donna (here)
    Quote Posted by Bill Ryan (here)
    I have to share the true story told us by our very own Sierra, who lives in Northern California and had a relatively small (but scary) forest fire quite close to her house a few months ago. It burned for the best part of a couple of days, threatening to spread, before it was put out by firefighters.

    Apparently, the cause was a bear that had climbed a pylon, was electrocuted, caught on fire, fell to the ground, and then (still on fire!!) had run through the forest setting everything alight.

    The bear? It survived.
    @Bill

    Wow! How does one plan for scenarios like that?
    Genetic modification. From here on out, all bears must have fireproof fur.

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    Default Re: Flying Arsonists: Raptors Spreading Wildfires

    Quote Posted by Bill Ryan (here)
    Quote Posted by O Donna (here)
    Quote Posted by Bill Ryan (here)
    I have to share the true story told us by our very own Sierra, who lives in Northern California and had a relatively small (but scary) forest fire quite close to her house a few months ago. It burned for the best part of a couple of days, threatening to spread, before it was put out by firefighters.

    Apparently, the cause was a bear that had climbed a pylon, was electrocuted, caught on fire, fell to the ground, and then (still on fire!!) had run through the forest setting everything alight.

    The bear? It survived.
    @Bill

    Wow! How does one plan for scenarios like that?
    Genetic modification. From here on out, all bears must have fireproof fur.
    GMO bears? Oh no!

    James Patterson Zoo flash back!
    Knock Knock

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