Their interviews make it clear that while the behavior does happen, it’s not common. Not coincidentally, these are also the most common raptor species in Australia’s tropical savannas. Their results, published recently in the Journal of Ethnobiology, document that at least three raptor species purposefully spread fire to flush out additional prey by carrying burning branches to unburnt areas.Įyewitnesses reported three species transporting sticks in either their talons or beaks: the Black Kite ( Milvus migrans), the Whistling Kite ( Haliastur sphenurus), and the Brown Falcon ( Falco berigora). (They also gathered a substantial number accounts from Aboriginal peoples, however, the team is waiting to publish those accounts until they can do so in a way that respects ownership and the protection of traditional knowledge.) A Whistling Kite. They also tracked down reported sightings and interviewed people across the northern savannas, including cattle station managers, firefighters, and field scientists. Over several years, he and his collaborators reviewed anthropological and ornithological research for reports of interactions between birds, fire, and people in tropical savannas around the world. Intrigued, but finding few other references, Gosford put out a call to birding and ethnography networks for similar stories. One of the study’s authors, Robert Gosford, came across an account by an Aboriginal man, Waipuldanya, where he witnesses this very behavior. The association between birds and fire is common in many Aboriginal mythologies, some of which tell of “firehawk” birds stealing branches from cooking fires or wildfires and spreading the flames to new areas to flush out prey.Īs it turns out, these stories mirror reality. Raptor species are well-known for hunting near active fires, snatching up large insects, small mammals, and reptiles as they flee the flames. Humans aren’t the only ones that hunt at the fire front. These smaller fires consumed excess fuel and helped prevent catastrophic lightning-set blazes, a philosophy which still underpins the land management practiced today by ranchers and other landowners. Aboriginal peoples who have lived there over this time hunt native wildlife and keep the country healthy, using fire.
Over at least the last 65,000 years since humans first arrived in Australia, this ecosystem has adapted to occasional burning. Firehawks: Myth And RealityĪustralia isn’t all beaches and desert tropical savannas stretch across much of the remote north, covering about 20 percent of Australia’s land area. But it looks like humans aren’t the only species that deliberately manipulates fire to its benefit.Īt least three Australian raptor species intentionally spread wildfires by carrying smoldering branches to unburnt areas, according to a new paper that confirms long-held traditional Aboriginal knowledge.
Using fire is one of the defining features of modern humans, listed right alongside toolmaking and art in the anthropology textbooks.
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