SEABIRDS AS ALLIES

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 123, 19 February 1944, Page 6

SEABIRDS AS ALLIES

Guidance And Food For Forced-Down Airmen IMPORTANT PART OF CREWS’ TRAINING

Birds are 'the allies of airmen who have invaded the skies in which they once held sole dominion. Airmen forced down on the sea can tell from the presence of various species of birds how far they are likely to be from lan’d, the direction of land, and if their rescue or reaching laud is long delayed then the flesh and blood of the birds provides sustenance. “The Dominion” was told recently that it is part of the training pf R.N.Z.A.F. air crews destined for the Pacific to be able to recognize the birds of that area and to learn their habits. When airmen’s mechanical means of mastering the skies has been made useless by enemy action or other causes they may have to rely on birds to “show me the way io go home.” Learning about them is not dull; instead, it is full of interesting features and, above all, may prove .i life saver. Birds arc a natural aid to navigation for airmen forced down at sea iu the Pacific. Seated in his self-inflating dinghy, or floating with the aid of a Mae West jacket, the airman may haie a horizon of only five to seven miles under favourable conditions. Land may be only 12 to 15 miles off, but he cannot see it. He may have lost his compass because baling out is not planned with the care of an expedition, and sea current* and drift will keep him on the move. This is where he wants to get the bird. Certain types of them only fly u maximum given distance from land; the airman already knows them and their range. Most common are the boobies. The red footed booby has a maximum range of 100 miles from land and may return at nightfall, or stay out. The blue-faced (range up to 50 miles from land) and brown (20 to 30 miles), always return to land at nightfall. Similarly with the white tern (up to 50 miles), the noddy tern (15 to 20 miles), and the frigate (50 miles), known to sailors as the man-o’-war bird. Able to recognize the birds, the airman can tell that he is no more than a certain distance from land. At dusk the kinds named fly directly back to land and. watching the direction of their flight, the airmail knows where, and approximately how far off, the land is. Besides their appearance the birds have definite characteristics. The tern, a small bird, skims the surface of the sea and catches fish "off the top.”

The booby birds are as large as turkeys. They fly at up to 400 feet and when they sight a shoal of fish dive straight down like a plummet. Having no nostrils, the fast dive into the water from height does not affect them. The frigate or man-o’-war bird is a robber. It has a twisted beak and cannot fish for itself. It is not web-footed so is helpless on the water. Therefore it harasses other birds in the air, makes them disgorge their catch, and, as this falls swoops down and collects it. The booby is fatally inquisitive. It will land on an airman's head or on the side of his dinghy, and, if the man is desperately in need of food, he can seize the bird and wring its neck without recourse to the subterfuge usually required. In fact, if there are two there, one booby will calmly watch its companion being killed and await its own turn. Besides the flesh, for eating, the blood can be drunk, and the feathers used to stuff inside the airman’s jacket to give extra warmth. The eyes, too, contain much moisture. , It may all sound pretty grim to those far removed from the scenes of couflic', but it gives an idea of the situation, which sometimes confront the airmen 0.. New Zealand, fighting their country s battles far out in the Pacific.