Playing Chicken With The Birds
Hi, everyone.
Here in Miami, we have a lot of turkey buzzards. They are VERY good at finding, centering and re-centering thermals. When the lift allows, they will soar (without flapping wings) all the way up into cumulus clouds with 3-4 thousand foot bases.
Because they are so good at the re-centering, I usually soar with them in the same thermal. I try to stay just outside their circle radius so as to (1) not scare them off the thermal and (2) not hit them.
These buzzards are big - almost the size of a turkey and there are often a dozen of them in any given thermal. If we collide it's going to hurt - possibly me, but the glider and the buzzard for sure.
I don't recall reading much in my various glidering books about how to safely soar near the birds, so I'm hoping to find some good advice here.
For example, if I see that I'm on a collision course with a bird and getting close, should I try to turn or dive or climb quickly to avoid it? or should I maintain course or turn away slowly, so as to not confuse the bird regarding my intent?
In short, how does one avoid "playing chicken" with the the birds. :-)
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