Birds and Clouds

ok...How do fish know what is supposed to be up and what is supposed to be
down.. on a wrecked ship..

BS at it's best

BT

> It's interesting to note that fish swimming inside a shipwreck will
> orient themselves 'down' relative to the interior of the boat. e.g.
> When the boat lays upside down, the fish on the interior swim upside
> down. I've seen them do this on the outside of the ship as well when
> there are few other visual clues as to which way is up.

On Wed, 19 Nov 2003, Nasir wrote:

> "Cecil E. Chapman" <bayareapilot@> wrote in message
> news:ZFQub.32694$KU4.5284@newssvr25.news.prodigy.c om...
> > Birds obviously can't fly on instruments... Can birds fly in clouds
> without
> > getting disoriented? I would assume that they don't have the same
> > limitations we do, since we are generally ground-dwelling creatures. Just
> > wondering?
>
> I also wonder if birds ever "stall" prematurely when they are coming in to
> land. Given that they dont get a landing roll, its amazing how perfect their
> speed control has to be to touch down without any excess speed.

I was watching gulls the other day; while adult gulls usually
seem to stall in from a glide with a neat twist of the wings and no
flapping, the juveniles come wobbling in, flap madly to avoid crashing,
and lurch into the ground.

Pilots (esp. students) could sympathize, I'm sure! It certainly sounds
like some of my less elegant landings!

Brian - PP-ASEL/Night -

"Brian Burger" <yh728@victoria.tc.ca> wrote in message
news:Pine.GSO.4.58.0311210000330.27333@vtn1.victor ia.tc.ca...
>
> I was watching gulls the other day; while adult gulls usually
> seem to stall in from a glide with a neat twist of the wings and no
> flapping, the juveniles come wobbling in, flap madly to avoid crashing,
> and lurch into the ground.
>
> Pilots (esp. students) could sympathize, I'm sure! It certainly sounds
> like some of my less elegant landings!

Sounds like my better ones.

In article <ZFQub.32694$KU4.5284@newssvr25.news. >,
"Cecil E. Chapman" <bayareapilot@> wrote:

> Birds obviously can't fly on instruments... Can birds fly in clouds without
> getting disoriented? I would assume that they don't have the same
> limitations we do, since we are generally ground-dwelling creatures. Just
> wondering?
>
> --

As a avid waterfowl hunter for many years, I can tell you that ducks &
geese can fly in very limited visibility, though they prefer VFR
conditions :-). No way to know if they can fly in zero viz clouds, since
I wouldn't be able to see em anyway. I've never seen them fly thru
clouds. In a given local area, waterfowl have to move to feed each day,
even twice a day. They normally rest in different areas than they feed
in for safety. They will hunker down in real high wind, but 30-40 knots
and 20 yards of visibility is nothing for a duck. When they are hungry,
they will fly. I have been in visibilty of about 5 yards or so and heard
ducks flying in and landing in my decoys 10 yards away that I could not
see. Don't ask me how.