Black Vulture? (location inside a plane's cockpit, otherwise unknown; mildly gruesome) (1 Viewer)

[lockbreeze926]

Possibly a Black Vulture

 

[nartreb]

Seems a reasonable guess. Not sure I can rule out a turkey vulture - or even a large chicken- with an unusual leg color, but that seems less likely. (Especially the chicken - they don't fly very high.)

The pilot seems to be wearing an industrial-strength air filter mask, which I don't think is normal. If the clip is recent, it could be someplace affected by recent wildfires (e.g. eastern Canada -- the land looks very flat...). (Smoke can't be good for the plane either, but that's another story.)

 

[dantheman]

Annoying - the tweet says the bird hit the windshield.

Arguably the plane hit the bird.

 

[Armand]

Seems a reasonable guess. Not sure I can rule out a turkey vulture - or even a large chicken- with an unusual leg color, but that seems less likely. (Especially the chicken - they don't fly very high.)

The pilot seems to be wearing an industrial-strength air filter mask, which I don't think is normal. If the clip is recent, it could be someplace affected by recent wildfires (e.g. eastern Canada -- the land looks very flat...). (Smoke can't be good for the plane either, but that's another story.)

chicken , that made me chuckle, i had visions of angered rustic types throwing their largest chickens at low flying planes

 

[lockbreeze926]

I see mainstream media has picked up on this and has provided more actual information - that the incident took place in Ecuador, Los Ríos province - and fevered speculation - that the bird is an Andean Condor, which seems very unlikely.

 

[nartreb]

yeah, ebird shows no condor sightings at all in that province (it's mostly very flat floodplains, as the name sort of implies). But Black Vulture is very numerous, at least in parts of the province. (Also, I like to think I would have noticed if the bird was condor-sized).

 

[vergan]

Annoying - the tweet says the bird hit the windshield.

Arguably the plane hit the bird.

Howndo you reach that conclusion?

 

[Butty]

Howndo you reach that conclusion?

Very very easily 👍🏻

 

[maplekong]

Howndo you reach that conclusion?

Even if they logically mean the same thing, we sympathise with the bird here.

 

[nartreb]

Small aircraft cruise speed: around 75 mph. Vulture soaring speed: around 20 mph.

 

[maplekong]

Also, a bird will not fly headfirst into a plane if it can help it, while the more arrogant of our species may not change course, thinking the bird will.