Found a nice paragliding forum thread discussing flying habits of different birds (mostly soaring variety), it's something not commonly found in birding books since the perspective is a bit exotic perhaps.
Personally I didn't have many encounters with birds while flying my paraglider (a couple of hawks, a flock of pelicans, a vulture here and there, and... a bumblebee 1 km above ground) but following birds is in general a thing to do while searching for rising air.
A couple of definitions: "thermal" is a column (or bubble) of rising air, birds naturally like those as it relieves them from having to flap their wings. "Coring" means circling the thermal's "core", i.e. its central portion where the lift is strongest. Finding a core is a bit of a black art as air is invisible (duh!).
It's interesting how personalities of different species differ: vultures are very polite and curious BUT have a habit of spacing out in flight (take momentary naps) and people collided with them so whistling is recommended to wake them up; falcons can be tricky and intentionally lead you to sinking air (to get you out of their territory); hawks are more interested in food than flying so they tend to leave thermals early (so not the best guides); pelicans do synchronised flying in flocks; ravens like aerial acrobatics, barrel rolls etc.; cranes have no patience, if the lift is not strong, they leave; pelicans and storks can be very patient, working a weak lift; in general birds respect traffic rules: paragliding manuals always insist that the first pilot to enter a thermal sets the direction of circling the core, anyone joining in should respect the established direction. Birds do the same, they obviously read their manuals o
The thread: http://www.paraglidingforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=83362
Personally I didn't have many encounters with birds while flying my paraglider (a couple of hawks, a flock of pelicans, a vulture here and there, and... a bumblebee 1 km above ground) but following birds is in general a thing to do while searching for rising air.
A couple of definitions: "thermal" is a column (or bubble) of rising air, birds naturally like those as it relieves them from having to flap their wings. "Coring" means circling the thermal's "core", i.e. its central portion where the lift is strongest. Finding a core is a bit of a black art as air is invisible (duh!).
It's interesting how personalities of different species differ: vultures are very polite and curious BUT have a habit of spacing out in flight (take momentary naps) and people collided with them so whistling is recommended to wake them up; falcons can be tricky and intentionally lead you to sinking air (to get you out of their territory); hawks are more interested in food than flying so they tend to leave thermals early (so not the best guides); pelicans do synchronised flying in flocks; ravens like aerial acrobatics, barrel rolls etc.; cranes have no patience, if the lift is not strong, they leave; pelicans and storks can be very patient, working a weak lift; in general birds respect traffic rules: paragliding manuals always insist that the first pilot to enter a thermal sets the direction of circling the core, anyone joining in should respect the established direction. Birds do the same, they obviously read their manuals o
The thread: http://www.paraglidingforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=83362
