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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Briefly hovering like a Kestrel but at a high altitude. Aintree NW UK (yesterday) (1 Viewer)

RichieTwitchy

RichieTwitchy

YNWA
Hi all

Noticed this guy VERY high up and at first thought it was the size of a Buzzard, but my photos seem to tell a different story (?).

Anyway, it was the behaviour of the bird which caught my eye.

It rose up circling high up on the thermals, as a Buzzard would, but then it would turn into the wind and hover like a Kestrel but for only a short time before going even higher and doing the same - eventually it was the size of a pin ***** in the clouds.

I've never seen a Kestrel go that high, but looking at my photos I can see a Kestrel like shape - or is it?

My uploaded photos have the original photograph (cropped and taken against a very bright sky) with the lightened version next to it.

Any help always appreciated thanks.
 

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I’ve watched parties of the insectiverous Falcons e.g. Lesser K’s and Eleonara’s hawking high in the same conditions so no reason why Common K wouldn’t do so:t:

Laurie -
 
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Andy Hurley said:
but why do they insects go high? There is no food up there.
Click to expand...

They are not very heavy so just get carried up on the thermals I think?

Hot summer days when the flying ants emerge sees the same thing happen. You'll have noticed that on warm days, Swifts also go very high for the same reason.
 
andyadcock said:
They are not very heavy so just get carried up on the thermals I think?

Hot summer days when the flying ants emerge sees the same thing happen. You'll have noticed that on warm days, Swifts also go very high for the same reason.
Click to expand...

Seems a good enough reason to me Andy. So what happens up there with no food? Do they ultimately die? I've heard of fish or frogs coming down with the rain, normally in areas where tornadoes occur, but I have never heard of insects dropping out of the sky. One of lifes mysteries.
 
I guess that the flying insects gain height so that any breeze will carry them to newer /richer feeding and breeding habitat ( dispersal ) so that the species can multiply and broaden the gene pool. Otherwise you'd end up with more numbers in the same area thus causing overcrowding and little increase in numbers. Haven't noticed any yet, but when the flying ants go up, I've observed black headed gulls and Starlings going after them at some height, usually through late afternoon and evening when temperature is at its highest.
 
PYRTLE said:
I guess that the flying insects gain height so that any breeze will carry them to newer /richer feeding and breeding habitat ( dispersal ) so that the species can multiply and broaden the gene pool. Otherwise you'd end up with more numbers in the same area thus causing overcrowding and little increase in numbers. Haven't noticed any yet, but when the flying ants go up, I've observed black headed gulls and Starlings going after them at some height, usually through late afternoon and evening when temperature is at its highest.
Click to expand...

Instinctively or a result of physics?
 
Insects also migrate locally but thermal uplift will be a factor.
So do Spiders by playing out a thread until there is enough drag / resistance to a light breeze and they are carried aloft:eek!:

Laurie -
 
andyadcock said:
The latter IMO but it will be natures design and don't forget Andy, it cools at night so they all come down again, they don't just stay up there.
Click to expand...

True enough, but have they starved to death in the meantime? Some might, especially the lightest that rely on nectar to survive.

Meanwhile the thread has gone way of topic, Sorry about that RichT
 
I think the winged ants soon loose their wings after "flight" (48hrs max?)so the females and selected males revert to being ground dwellers again. This suggests to me, nature governs development but with all the other sciences as part of that physics / chemistry / avionics and biology. Look at some adult insect life timespan eg Mayfly.....24 hrs to emerge, fly, dance, mate and then call it a day

Now, where's that Kestrel.
 
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PYRTLE said:
I think the winged ants soon loose their wings after "flight" (48hrs max?)so the females and selected males revert to being ground dwellers again. This suggests to me, nature governs development but with all the other sciences as part of that physics / chemistry / avionics and biology. Look at some adult insect life timespan eg Mayfly.....24 hrs to emerge, fly, dance, mate and then call it a day

Now, where's that Kestrel.
Click to expand...

By now after all our (interesting of course!) waffling it's probably "Eight miles high" (to quote the magnificent Byrds from my youth).
 
Flippin eck! I've learnt a lot from this thread - and not just about birds ;)

I was watching Springwatch one year and I remember Chris Packham talking about insects in the skies and he was saying there could be tons (in weight) of insects over our heads at any one time!

Imagine that - the mind boggles.
 
PYRTLE said:
I think the winged ants soon loose their wings after "flight" (48hrs max?)so the females and selected males revert to being ground dwellers again. This suggests to me, nature governs development but with all the other sciences as part of that physics / chemistry / avionics and biology. Look at some adult insect life timespan eg Mayfly.....24 hrs to emerge, fly, dance, mate and then call it a day

Now, where's that Kestrel.
Click to expand...

I know the male termite survives, but my impression is that male ants die relatively quickly, for the lucky one after having left some semen with the female that comes down and becomes queen of the next "home"?

Niels
 
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