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Even more rare now...
Posted: Fri Jun 28, 2013 3:16 am
by Gob
I know I shouldn't laugh, but...
There had been only eight recorded sightings of the white-throated needletail in the UK since 1846. So when one popped up again on British shores this week, twitchers were understandably excited.
A group of 40 enthusiasts dashed to the Hebrides to catch a glimpse of the brown, black and blue bird, which breeds in Asia and winters in Australasia.
But instead of being treated to a wildlife spectacle they were left with a horror show when it flew into a wind turbine and was killed.
John Marchant, 62, who had made the trip all the way from Norfolk, said: ‘We were absolutely over the moon to see the bird. We watched it for nearly two hours.
‘But while we were watching it suddenly got a bit close to the turbine and then the blades hit it.
‘We all rushed up to the turbine, which took about five minutes, hoping the bird had just been knocked out the sky but was okay.
‘Unfortunately it had taken a blow to the head and was stone dead.
‘It was really beautiful when it was flying around, graceful and with such speed. To suddenly see it fly into a turbine and fall out the sky was terrible.’
The last sighting of a white-throated needletail was 22 years ago. A relative of the common swift, it is said to be capable of flying at an astonishing 106mph.
The bird was thousands of miles off course when it was originally spotted in Northumberland, before travelling further north. But it hadn’t reckoned on the wind turbine hazards of the Hebrides when it landed on the Isle of Harris.
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z2XTdlNFUm
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Re: Even more rare now...
Posted: Fri Jun 28, 2013 3:37 am
by Lord Jim
Not really an "aww..." kind of "feel good" story is it?...
The sort of thing that only a person with a twisted sense of humor would find amusing...
Which of course wold not include me....
Re: Even more rare now...
Posted: Fri Jun 28, 2013 12:15 pm
by dales
He's only resting.
Re: Even more rare now...
Posted: Fri Jun 28, 2013 12:55 pm
by oldr_n_wsr
Eco-friendly?
Re: Even more rare now...
Posted: Fri Jun 28, 2013 1:08 pm
by Sue U
Pining for the fjords of Sydney, I reckon.
The bird is "rare" only in Britain, where
it is several thousand miles out of its normal range:
oldr_n_wsr wrote:Eco-friendly?
Moreso than coal- or oil-fired generating plants.
Re: Even more rare now...
Posted: Fri Jun 28, 2013 1:49 pm
by oldr_n_wsr
Tell that to the bird.
Re: Even more rare now...
Posted: Fri Jun 28, 2013 2:12 pm
by Rick
Can't, its dead...
Re: Even more rare now...
Posted: Fri Jun 28, 2013 2:34 pm
by Lord Jim
No it's not, it's pining.
Re: Even more rare now...
Posted: Fri Jun 28, 2013 2:36 pm
by Joe Guy
People are so dramatic about these things.
I bet it was just bad timing. The bird died of old age and just happened to fall into a turbine.
I'm sure an autopsy would prove that to be true.
Re: Even more rare now...
Posted: Fri Jun 28, 2013 2:44 pm
by Sue U
Rick wrote:Can't, its dead...
You can still tell it; you just can't tell it much.
Joe Guy wrote:The bird died of old age and just happened to fall into a turbine.
Probably died of exhaustion after flying all the way from Canberra.
Alternatively, realizing it was in Scotland, suicide.
Re: Even more rare now...
Posted: Fri Jun 28, 2013 3:47 pm
by Long Run
We've seen this black humor skit a hundred times. File under life imitates art.
Re: Even more rare now...
Posted: Fri Jun 28, 2013 4:06 pm
by Rick
Long Run wrote:We've seen this black humor skit a hundred times. File under life imitates art.
I guess yer referring to Anton Chekhovs "Seagull" that showed up in Glasgow in the early 1900s, however it is still alive to this day...
Re: Even more rare now...
Posted: Fri Jun 28, 2013 4:22 pm
by Joe Guy
Re: Even more rare now...
Posted: Fri Jun 28, 2013 5:16 pm
by Sue U