remembering the squirrel&goshawk episode reminded me that i once found some rather amazing bird flying videos while i was looking for educational videos for
g-forces in centripetal motion (for example flying a circle with an airplane).
BBC animal camera has made some ultimate bird flying videos. before i saw these i had thought that the peregrine falcon is master flier of birds. if i understood this right it is the fastest: it can make 150 miles per hour (= 240 km/h) when it makes a dive. but that's constant speed and that is nothing compared to the acceleration (the change of speed) which they may feel in manouvering in flight. the old wisdom says it: it's not the speed that kills, it's the sudden stop.
the perigrene falcon can make turns which cause acceleration of 10
g which is ten times more than our weight normally! that's so much that humans can't take without passing out, not even the trained fighter pilots and astronauts. in a lift the acceleration is normally less than 0,2 times the weight when it starts moving or slows down, and even that may sometimes feel uncomfortable.
(there's an abundance of g-force training videos in the Y-tube if you wish to see what effects of acceleration are to humans. this is one of the calmest and reasonable ones: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yjg6mRFz ... re=related)
from the BBC videos i learned that the goshawk is maybe a even more skillful flier than the peregrine falcon. it's a specialist in flying in woodlands and near the ground and it can make amazing swift changes and turns while it flies among the trees. i think it rather difficult to say which one is the 'better' flier.
here are links to the bird flying videos. first one clip where they show how these flying videos are made. here a golden eagle called Tilly is the test pilot.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lswBDZuL-8w
and the next video shows the peregrine falcon in flight, followed by the goshawk:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-_RHRAzUHM
enjoy the ride!
(...and this is what i found next. obviously these people haven't seen Hitchcock's Birds.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZJKmPa4 ... ature=fvwp)
Jo: if you think this post is not in a proper place please feel free to move it to a more suitable place. i admit it is rather loosly linked to the topic, eagles' winter feeding. sorry about that....