Re kites as "firebirds" - I can see a number of references to this on the
internet, e.g. in an article on the domestication of fire in the journal *Human
Evolution* by J. Goudsblom (1986):
http://www.springerlink.com/content/y4627j46m21234w2/
-- referring in turn to Michael Allaby's book *Animal Artisans* (1982):
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=i9g7AAAAMAAJ&q=kite+allaby&dq=kite+allaby&pgi\
s=1

I can't immediately see any similar claim about kites in my East African notes,
only "folk tales" in which other birds carry fire for other purposes.

Martin Walsh


--- In Ethnoornithology@..., Mark Bonta <markabonta@...> wrote:
>
> See the Questions and Answers section in
savanna.cdu.edu.au/downloads/tropical78.pdf
>
> My question is whether any birds in the world purposefully start fires to
flush prey. It is apparently widely believed in parts of Australia that kites do
this, as they commonly hover at the edge of burns to catch fleeing rodents. The
idea is that they also carry embers in the beaks to unburnt areas, and drop
these to start new fires, What I am wondering is whether there is documentation
of this practice in the form of naturalists' notes, published accounts, or even
a video?
>
> If this does indeed happen it is extremely significant, as we (social
scientists) generally are taught and teach that humans are the sole
fire-starting animal, thus having had enormous effects on our own evolution as
well as the shaping of the world's ecosystems (a la Stephen Pyne). If there is
unquestionable evidence of birds doing this, we might need to rethink some of
this, with, it seems to me, rather intriguing ramifications.
>
> mb
>
>
> Dr. Mark Bonta
> Associate Professor of Geography
> Division of Social Sciences
> Kethley 226, PO Box 3264
> Delta State University
> Cleveland, MS 38733
> Tel. 662.846.4096 [w]; 843.6205 [h]; Fax: 662.846.4099
> Alternate email: mbonta@...
>