On Monday, December 2, 2019 at 3:14:34 PM UTC-5, Dave Nadler wrote:
On Monday, December 2, 2019 at 2:42:01 PM UTC-5, son_of_flubber wrote:
My policy is to only enter thermals well below raptors

Yikes - So when they "startle" and reflexively pull in their wings and dive,
they have the best chance of hitting you???

They've often demonstrated their ability to climb faster than me. They can fly much tighter turns and get into the core. I figure that entering below makes me immediately visible, I'm yielding the strategic dominant position, and they have options. If I enter above, the bird might feel vulnerable.

I've only once startled a raptor (hawk?) when I (stupidly) decided to follow after they left the thermal that we'd been sharing. I was not expecting to overtake them at the same altitude, but suddenly a minute later the raptor was cruising wings level in front of my left wing. And then he was a couple feet in front of my leading edge about eight feet to the left. He showed me his white underside and dove. Feeling bad about this, I updated my policy to never follow a raptor when they leave a shared thermal.