Really cool bird formation

reply to post by plumranch


Not a bug in the sky? perhaps they were feeding on mosquitos, which, as I understand it, are quite bad in Alaska. Mosquitos swarms would be impossible to see to the naked eye from a distance, especially when the bird clusters are in the mix of them. Here is an interesting article that talks about the massive mosquito problems in Alaska

www.adn.com...

Generally speaking, the insects travel in air thermals (micro thermals if you will), thus the erratic behavior in movement.

As for the birds in Africa, how can you assume that they eat crops exclusively if you do not even know what species they were? A better answer would be that they feed on the insects that feed on the crops. As I stated in a post above, crop fields are the primary locations that these bird clusters take place.

[edit on 11-7-2008 by no name needed]

Great find flice its awesome and I've never seen bat formations; they sound interesting, I'll probably ask my Bio Professor about it, he tracks bats and he goes into their caves. My exact same thought argentus, and I can see the UFO shape, I think these birds are probably ATS members, we should see what they think of themselves.

reply to post by justamomma


momma are you talking about the bat colony that lives under the I-35? I remember I heard about a large colony in Austin that people go watch as they go out and hunt? Can you correct me on this momma, much appreciated!

[edit on 7/11/2008 by SHADO13]

Originally posted by no name needed
reply to post by plumranch

 

...
As for the birds in Africa, how can you assume that they eat crops exclusively if you do not even know what species they were? A better answer would be that they feed on the insects that feed on the crops. As I stated in a post above, crop fields are the primary locations that these bird clusters take place.

[edit on 11-7-2008 by no name needed]

And why do you insist that all such swarms of birds are "after insects"? This is simply not the case. Especially not if plumranch's sighting was in West Africa. In fact the possibility is just as good, if not better that they were in fact destroying crops. I'll save you the time of looking up the Quelea quelea also known as the Red-billed Quelea.

Just some random references:

Most weavers don’t clash with humans, but a flock of Red-billed quelea, sometimes called locust birds, is a flock of pest birds that African farmers fear.
Source

LAGOS - Flocks of grain-eating quelea birds have destroyed crops in Nigeria's arid far north, raising fears of further food shortages in a region just south of drought-ravaged Niger, officials said on Friday.
Source

Swarm Videos

Images

Wiki

And for the record, other swarms of birds - including starlings (specifically the European Starling ) - can also damage crops.

It's not all about the insects after all.