7 replies to this topic

[rogerVA]

Other than the wing markings, I can tell a Turkey Vulture from a Black Vulture by their ability to soar in the sky without need of flapping their wings for a longer time than the Black V. For a not very attractive animal, they are majestic in the sky if you give them your consideration. They soar with the wind, so effortlessly, so beautifully. It made me wonder, watching them, and sometimes seeing them dip and dive like some sort of roller-coaster, if they are sometimes up there just having fun and not having any other purpose to be in the sky.

[Triplefeather]

I don't deny that animals can't have fun, but I honestly don't think raptors fly to just fly. Even soaring takes energy, and it is a lot harder to find food than you think. TVs fly almost a hundred miles a day searching for food, and usually come up empty-handed.

Though maybe you are onto something. I have seen animals do things that cannot be mistaken as anything but having fun. It would be fun to ride the thermals all day after all.

[spookyjimjams]

It seems that Turkey Vulture "enjoy" flying differently at different times of the year. In the winter, they are more no-nonsense fliers. They tend to hit thermals and fly much further off the ground and seem to be much more conservative in their movemeent and energy.

In the early summer, they seem to fly a lot lower, and have considerably more aerobatics in their flight. They do look like they are on some invisible roller coaster, pulling dives and banking maneuvers that are really cool to see on such a large bird. They are strangely graceful, yet still have that slightly drunken teeter-totter rocking motion. I watched a bunch this weekend that seemed like they were actually enjoying their ride through the trees. Most were within a hundred feet of the ground.

[JimBob]

I agree that they seem to enjoy it. But yes, they have to look a LOT for food. So it's not just for fun.

[creeker]

Yah, birds agendas are a lot different than ours. It's pretty much eat, sleep, and breed. Their brains are wired for survival, not play.

[BarnSwallow]

I dunno, I've known people like that.

[Liam]

Not sure about Turkey Vultures, but I know Crows and Mississippi Kites sure love to play around in the wind! Swallows do too, they love chasing feathers.

[Sparky the Cuttlefish]

In "The Life of Birds" with David Attenborough, a pilot mentions how she thinks that the raptors that she sees flying at really high altitudes are doing it just for fun. David Attenborough asks her why she thinks that, and she replies with something like "well, how are they supposed to see a mouse from this many feet up?".

That bit always makes me smile, but I always find myself disagreeing with her in my head, too - in most situations where we see birds flying that high up, they're not doing it for fun, but for travel purposes. That doesn't mean that birds won't fly for "fun", though, and many young birds will play in the air, especially birds like crows and ravens, as Liam mentioned. Other young birds, like falcons, play in the air for practice hunting, etc. I do love watching ravens tumble and do barrel rolls in the air, it's pretty incredible!