Bird Using Fire?

[Gemfyre <>]

I have heard of Black Kites doing this, so that's the probably the species they're referring to.  I've also observed Black Kites hanging around fisherman waiting for a handout.

Belinda Forbes
Stirling W.A.
 

On Wed May 13 14:11 , Carl Clifford <> sent:

<>
> Dear All,
>
>
> The following was posted on the WildbirdSingapore group and is said to  
>
> be from an Etnoornithology forum.
>
>
> A Remarkable Case of Tool-Using in a Bird
>
> Author(s): Ashley Montagu
>
> Source: American Anthropologist, New Series, Vol. 72, No. 3 (Jun.,  
>
> 1970), p. 610
>
> Published by: Blackwell Publishing on behalf of the American  
>
> Anthropological Association
>
> Stable URL: http://www.jstor. org/stable/ 673006
>
> Accessed: 11/05/2009 12:34
>
>
> Accepted for publication 18 February 1970.
>
>
> To the growing list of tool-users among animals other than man should  
>
> be added the Northern Territory kitehawk or, as he is called among the  
>
> aborigines of that part of Australia, the firehawk. In the fascinating  
>
> book about his life, I, The Aboriginal (Ade- laide: Griffin, 1962),  
>
> written down by Douglas Lockwood, Waipuldanya, an abori- ginal of the  
>
> Alawa tribe at Roper River, says, "I have seen a hawk pick up a smoul-  
>
> dering stick in its claws and drop it in a fresh patch of dry grass  
>
> half a mile away, then wait with its mates for the mad exodus of  
>
> scorched and frightened rodents and rep- tiles. When that area was  
>
> burnt out the pro- cess was repeated elsewhere. We call these fires  
>
> Jaluran" (p. 93). Is this, possibly, the first recorded case of the  
>
> use of fire by a nonhuman animal?
>
>
> I presume the kitehawk is the Whistling Kite, as Kite Hawk appears to  
>
> be one of its alternative common names.  Has anyone ever heard of this  
>
> behaviour? Perhaps some-one with access to JSTOR could read the  
>
> article and let me know what they think? Perhaps one of the loacls was  
>
> pulling the leg of the Anthropologist.
>
>
> Cheers,
>
>
> Carl Clifford
>
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