[AZ-Observing] Re: specks flying in formation

  • From: "Rick Tejera" <saguaroastro@xxxxxxx>
  • To: <az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Tue, 10 Oct 2006 20:21:52 -0700

OK, from the how high do birds fly files: Years back when I had my pilots
license, I was tooling along with a friend and our wives in a Grumman Tiger
at 6500 ft. We were halfway over Long Island sound at night when WHUMP, and
I Mean WHUMP. Even strapped in I whacked my head on the canopy I jumped so
hard. At first I thought we threw a jug (Blew a Cylinder). My friend Wayne,
also a pilot was sure of it since he couldn't see a thing out his half of
the windscreen. He thought it was engine oil. A quick glance at the
instruments showed that wasn't the case, then I saw feathers & and one bird
leg sticking out from under the front of the cowling. 

We landed uneventfully 20 minutes later and on inspection & clean up figured
we hit a spotted owl. Half of the bird sliced itself under the cowling onto
the cylinder and was actually half cooked, grill marks from the cooling fins
included. The rest hit the windscreen. My friends wife was 6 months pregnant
and said if that didn't cause a miscarriage, nothing would. Definitely one
of those "It wasn't funny at the time". So if anyone asks you how high a
Spotted owl can fly the answer is at least 6500'  


Rick Tejera 
President 
Editor SACnews
Saguaro Astronomy Club
Phoenix, Arizona
saguaroastro@xxxxxxx
www.saguaroastro.org


-----Original Message-----
From: az-observing-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:az-observing-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Andrew Cooper
Sent: Tuesday, October 10, 2006 7:04 PM
To: az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [AZ-Observing] Re: specks flying in formation


It is surprising how high some critters get.  When observing the Moon I
often observe high altitude bats crossing the face, probably up a thousand
feet or more.  Apparently they are hunting moths that also get up there.

Andrew


Jennifer Polakis wrote:
> Last night when we were watching the Pleiades get occulted, I noticed
specks flying across the Moon.  At first just one or two here and there I
discounted them as floaters or dust or something, but  they were soon
followed by an entire gaggle ~maybe 30 or so in the standard V formation but
still nothing more than just specks. I noticed a few more stragglers after
that.  So, I'm thinking probably some migrating geese or cranes?  Did anyone
else notice? We were using about 100x. If they were geese flying in front of
the Moon, how far away do you think they were?
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-- 


Andrew Cooper
----------------------------------------------------
http://www.siowl.com



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