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Eagle tries to carry off Australian boy (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter ChrisKten
- Start date
RecoveringScot
Well-known member
Ah the BBC. Always to be relied on for rubbish.
Next. Eagle pulls giant truck unaided.
Cheers
James Lowther
Well-known member
looks like it happened...
but no doubt it was just a case of the eagle landing on the boy's head as a convenient perch
cheers,
James
but no doubt it was just a case of the eagle landing on the boy's head as a convenient perch
cheers,
James
MJB
Well-known member
I've been in that amphitheatre in 2004 and seen the Wedge-tailed Eagle display. They did a superb job of explaining the ecology of all the birds featured in the context of large-scale habitat change, linking it to the horrendous declines of Australian small marsupials.
Before the Wedgie display, they emphasised to all the adults that any children present should sit still and quiet so that the bird would not be distracted - once that was achieved, the eagle was launched from behind them and travelled to a perch about 20 metres beyond.
Perhaps the routine has changed since, or perhaps as hinted in some of the other press coverage, that child unfortunately became noisy and demonstrative. It must have been alarming for the child and the mother, but surely every adult even in the media is aware that a 23-kilo six-year-old child could only be carried off by at least female 5 Wedge-tailed Eagles working as a well-drilled team?
That would be a hell of a Note in British Birds.:t:MJB
rosbifs
PutAin STOP
Scary at the time - one of my old work colleagues had a saying 'pain is temporary and chicks dig scars'...
The report makes note that the kid was playing with his zip which has clearly had a influence on the bird. Bit like wearing a red top to a basque bull party.... The unfortunate spin off is the bird gets the blame when, probably, the kid was being a dick by not sitting still and quietly (at least they didn't shoot the bird).
The report makes note that the kid was playing with his zip which has clearly had a influence on the bird. Bit like wearing a red top to a basque bull party.... The unfortunate spin off is the bird gets the blame when, probably, the kid was being a dick by not sitting still and quietly (at least they didn't shoot the bird).
RecoveringScot
Well-known member
You see, a few years ago a real adult in the BBC would have asked somebody competent "What that eagle was trying to do?", would have received an attempt at a convincing explanation ('I think all that happened was it got its talons entangled in the boys hood, after trying to land on him', or some such musings).
The BBC used to have some reputation for sceptical enquiry, but now it just prints off a headline you'd expect to have seen in the Sunday Sport. Most trash that I see nowadays appears on BBC sites, without any suspicion being aroused that they don't mean it.
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MJB
Well-known member
I notice that more and more. Only this morning, one of the minor items on the BBC News website (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-trending-36775945) was titled "Healing crystal theft claim puts singer 'at risk of bad energy'", and although the blogger worded the report in a way that suggested she was somewhat sceptical, she hedged her bets just in case her mild, almost imperceptible scepticism was unwarranted! The single inverted commas in that headline should have been round 'healing crystal'....
MJB
PS The US English of Bird Forum's spellchecker wanted me to use 'skeptical' and 'inquiry'.... Surely the AOU's tentacles don't reach that far?
AmazonSupreme12
(AS)
This is obviously a hoax, guys chill.
dantheman
Bah humbug
Nah, this one is likely to be real*. The 'fabrication' bit of this is the exaggerated claim by the writer of the article that the 'Eagle tries to carry off the boy'.
*(it's entirely feasible, an event which they have systems in place to usually successfully avoid (ie tell childeren to keep still, it's in the birds nature to respond to that kind of stimuli!) multiple witnesses, including the raptor centre itself)
AmazonSupreme12
(AS)
LOL the eagle probably flew by and grazed him, nothing like that. Remember the first one? :-O
Chosun Juan
Given to Fly
Sounds like he was :t:
And yes, thank goodness the magnificent bird wasn't harmed or worse! :gn: :-C
It is difficult to gauge anything just by the stills, uninformed witnesses, and the sensationalist headlines. It looks to me like a possible explanation may have been along the lines of a territorial, or an attack response (small prey in a shrub type thing), trigger in response to stimuli; but lets not forget the fantastic eyesight, so perhaps the Wedgie was just giving a bit of a wake up call, or after the hoodie to stop that infernal noise ..... :eek!:
I think it's pretty certain that "Eagle tries to carry off Australian boy" is well wide of the mark. These are big, powerful birds, with fearsome talons, and I would think that if the Eagle was seriously trying to carry the boy off, that the talons would have been buried deep into him resulting in much more than the seemingly superficial wounds suffered. I also think he'd at least be unseated! Perhaps just 2 or 3 'big girls' would do the job ay? MJB ....
Chosun :gh:
Nutcracker
Stop Brexit!
MJB said:
Nutcracker is correct. It's your own system.
The default dictionary on browsers is for US English. You can build up your own by highlighting the word and selecting "add to dictionary". At least in the Mozilla browsers (Firefox, PaleMoon) is the way to do it, presumably other browsers have something similar.
RecoveringScot
Well-known member
The maximum weight that a Golden Eagle could lift (and then with difficulty in carrying) is about 4Kg. About two big bags of sugar. The idea that an eagle could lift a 6-8 year old boy is pure fantasy. It simply would not be able to fly and would injure itself in the attempt. Eagles may not be intellectual, but they're not generally that stupid.
Chosun Juan
Given to Fly
Generally, that's the correct ballpark. A big female Wedgie could carry more than 4kgs under ideal conditions, but unless this ~20kg+ boy was being dragged off a cliff (goat style) and gravity used to generate sufficient speed and lift to glide to another lower location, then the, what appears to be a smaller male bird is not going to lift him from a mere 15m away.
Wedgies have evolved to be doing some amazing things with predating feral cats and foxes these days (thank goodness) :t: and in certain landscapes where they form a reasonable percentage of the diet, many get carried back to the nest, as the parents prefer fresh kills for their nestlings.
So disobedient boys flying? = no
But might pigs fly? = oh yeah! :eek!: (o)< :flyaway:
http://www.townsvillebulletin.com.a...r-in-flight-meal/story-fnjfzs4b-1226730859416
Chosun :gh:
JTweedie
Well-known member
You can change the language in browsers too. In Chrome you'd do so in advanced settings.
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