If you have concerns I suggest discuss this with the people who found it. As we were not there. I think that the story only makes sense if the bird was found
at an edge of the fire and which then spread in one direction. If it was found in the middle it would be hard to pick an put the pieces together unless they can identify a radiation. If that is the case and the bird was at the edge, any bird (and they came
up with “crow” i.e. raven) a bird like that would be able to get away well enough not to be just overcome by the smoke. Then again, what it is likely is an issue. Even without any people in Australia, fires have natural causes.
From: calyptorhynchus . [
Sent: Saturday, 21 January, 2017 12:48 PM
To: Canberra Birds
Subject: Re: [canberrabirds] A bird ignited by powerlines caused Tarago fire, investigators find
Sorry, I'm just getting old and cynical. I imagine that firefighters and police being utterly sick of people who were nearly burning to death saying 'Why don't they get these arsonists and lock 'em up for life/hang
them/death's too good for them/why don't the police DO something' (whereas arson would be a very easy crime to get away with)... so they just prefer to say the fire had some natural cause.
Even if you go to where the fire started and find a charred bird under powerlines how do know it wasn't just overcome by the smoke , fell down and then got charred?
John L
On 21 January 2017 at 12:08, John Harris <> wrote:
I understand that the first step in determining the cause of a grass fire like this one is to determine the starting point of the fire. Wind direction etc can
sometimes mean that this can be quite accurate. If an expert determined the fire started at a point beneath some power lines, a charred bird in that spot would make it a very likely cause.
From:
Philip Veerman <>
Date: Friday, 20 January 2017 at 11:07 PM
To: 'David Rees' <>, 'John Leonard' <m("gmail.com","calyptorhynchus");" target="_blank">>
Cc: chatline <>
Subject: RE: [canberrabirds] A bird ignited by powerlines caused Tarago fire, investigators find
It happens with possums & fruit bats. Less likely with birds as they tend to just be in contact with
one wire. About happening all the time, I think it rather amazing that the people managed to find this and determine it to be the cause in this case. Of all the fires that happen from unknown causes, what would have been the chances of finding a dead bird
and being able to match it to the cause? Also it requires the right ground conditions for a fire to take on.
Philip
From:
David Rees
Sent: Friday, 20 January, 2017 4:34 PM
To: John Leonard
Cc:
Subject: Re: [canberrabirds] A bird ignited by powerlines caused Tarago fire, investigators find
John
I've have personally seen a Magpie do just this in suburban Melbourne. Managed to arc the power wires, big bang and crash and it fell to ground in flames,
in that case it hit the tarmac. I'd say it is possible..
On Fri, Jan 20, 2017 at 4:26 PM, John Leonard <> wrote:
Sounds very unlikely to me. If it was the cause why doesn't it happen all the time?
John Leonard
On 20 Jan 2017, at 4:16 PM, kym bradley <> wrote:
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John Leonard
Canberra
Australia
www.jleonard.net
I want to be with the 9,999 other things.
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