That is a very interesting question, but getting the chance to drive
parallel to them will be the hard part.
I also had large flight aviaries and they certainly didn't take long to get
from one end to the other which they did constantly flying
around calling loudly.
Little and Purple-crowned Lorikeets are also very fast.
There are a lot of birds that their speed is deceiving, a few years ago
there were a pair of resident Australian Shelduck living at the
Mondecollina Bore down the Strezelecki Track with a family of Grey Teal who
I thought would have been a lot faster than a lumbering
Shelduck.
The drake spent a lot of time trying to hunt the Teal away, not letting them
land on the open water and he did it with ease, the only way
the Teal could avoid him was cornering tightly or diving quickly just as he
stretched his neck out to grab them , he would do a large half circle
and come back and do it over again.
I sat there watching it happen taking many photos, he would walk around the
shallow water with his mate for a while feeding and when the
Teal re-appeared would start again, as there was no water close by the Teal
had no alternative but to come back to this spot.
On the way home driving along the gravel road near Windorah I noticed a
large flock of Flock Bronzewing Pigeons spread out across the plain flying
only a few feet above the ground as they do.
They were coming towards me at an angle on my right heading to cross the
road in front of me so I speed up and turned them parallel to the road
and took photos while steering with my knees ( Not recommended ) I kept them
there for a considerable distance and I clocked them at 112 km an hour.
These photos were published on a Bird Site a few years ago under the heading
" How fast can a Pigeon fly "
There are many references to how fast the Peregrine Falcon flies so there
must be some way of measuring the speed birds fly that is a lot safer than
steering with ones knees Ha Ha.
Barney.
-----Original Message-----
From: Birding-Aus On Behalf Of
Donald G. Kimball
Sent: Wednesday, 24 February 2016 2:07 PM
To: birding-aus
Subject: Parrots in Flight. Who's Fastest?
Okay forgive me if I return to being a 10 year old boy and wanting to know a
question like this one but having spent so much time watching and filming
parrots I can't help but wonder. Okay here are my impressions. It seems
like Rainbow Lorikeets are crazy fast. But having said that, I watched 2
Princess near Jupiter Well in 2008 that flew about 500m in about 4 seconds
to a nearby She-Oak. Which begs the question also. Are Princess faster
than other parrots? An internet acquaintance swore his free-flying pet
Princess was the fastest parrot in all of Aus. I guess the only way we
might know is if folks on here have noticed parrot species flying parrallel
with their cars and took note of the speed.
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