Fire Wielding Birds-- AKA, Australia did it again.

 So...Apparently Australia went and got scarier? They've got a set of birds called Firehawks that apparently might use fire to hunt, and mythically may have taught the Aborigines about fire. 

So...not only might you get stabbed in the foot by the sharp arrowheads and thorns from the grass if you go walking into a lovely plain, you might have to run out of there because a hawk decided they want a mouse from that particular field and now things are on fire, and it's probably dry enough that you should run. Not too fast though, you want to be careful about the spiders and snakes and everything else still. 

This is a picture of a Black Kite from A-Z animals. They're one of the species known to do this firehawk thing, along with at least two other known species, and a few that might do it. 

Explanation time: The raptors, at least three different species of kite and hawk but possibly more, grab sticks of fire and carry them across the river/road/whatever to start a fire on the other side, where they can then grab grasshoppers or other small creatures that run from the fire. Aboriginal stories have history of this happening forever, and that they taught the natives about fire, but it wasn't seen by people until more recently, and they're still trying to study it. They're sometimes seen following smoke to find fire to scare the prey out. There are some other birds that take advantage of this, but only a few raptors set fires.  

This may not be limited to Australia, especially since some of those birds have ranges beyond Australia, but let's pray that it isn't common elsewhere because we have plenty of fires without them. Either way, you now have another reason why I will never go to Australia even though I know they've got some really beautiful things there too. I hope this was interesting to you, and there's more information in the sources below. You can also use them to prove this to whoever you're telling this because it sounds like something someone made up, but i really isn't. 

Sources:

The Wildlife Society- Australian Firehawks

Pennsylvania State University-- Researching Firehawks

A-Z animals-- Australian Firehawks

Cool Green Science-- Firehawk Raptors

Bio One Digital Library-- Intentional Fire Spreading by Hawks