So you think you can swoop.....

[flyinghonu 0]

....but can you fish at the same time?

Saw this bird on a HD show I was watching the other night. They are the best swoopers I have EVER seen.

"Excuse me while I kiss the sky..." - Jimi Hendrix

[kelpdiver 2]

if we starved otherwise, we'd get pretty good in a hurry.

And the rest of us would be eliminated from the gene pool.

PS: really freaky is seeing a sea bird 'fly' by you 50 ft underwater.

[monkycndo 0]

The birds are called skimmers. I was kayaking in Morro Bay with these swoopers flying around. It was awesome to watch. One ran into a decent size fish and almost biffed in.

50 donations so far. Give it a try.

You know you want to spank it
Jump an Infinity

[Andy9o8 2]

I wonder what kind of wingloading is on a bird like that?

[flyinghonu 0]

Quote

One ran into a decent size fish and almost biffed in.

Yes, these Skimmers are much braver than skydivers. They swoop with their mouths...not like the sissy skydivers who only use their feet

"Excuse me while I kiss the sky..." - Jimi Hendrix

[Eule 0]

Quote

I wonder what kind of wingloading is on a bird like that?

This article discusses the chicks up through about 30-35 days. By day
30, the observed wing chord was about 240 mm, while the observed
mass of males was 366 g and of females 271 g. Several sites peg the
wingspan of adults at about 44 inches. The few that give a mass along
with the wingspan give something in the range of 350 g, so it is perhaps
safe to assume that by 30 days or so, the chicks have adult wingspans.

So:
240 mm * (25.4 mm/1 in) * (12 in/1 ft) = 0.787 ft
44 in * (1 ft/12 in) = 3.67 ft
3.67 ft * 0.787 ft = 2.89 ft^2

366 g * (2.2046 lb/1000 g) = 0.807 lb (male)
271 g * (2.2046 lb/1000 g) = 0.597 lb (female)

0.807 lb / 2.89 ft^2 = 0.28 lb/ft^2 (male)
0.597 lb / 2.89 ft^2 = 0.21 lb/ft^2 (female)

This does of course assume that the wings are rectangular, which
they aren't. It also counts the entire wingspan times chord as the
wing area, when it should really leave out a few inches of wingspan
in the middle for the fusel^Wbody. If you guesstimate that there
are 4 inches of body in the middle, and that each wing has 20%
less area than a rectangle, the wingloadings go up to about 0.38
lb/ft^2 for males and 0.28 lb/ft^2 for females.

I can probably give you a better answer if I can get to the library on
Saturday or Monday.

Eule

PLF does not stand for Please Land on Face.

[murps2000 86]

They are the best swoopers I have EVER seen.
***

These guys are pretty good, too.