Nature's Weather Predictors.

Diwundrin

Well-known Member
Do you have 'rainbirds' etc that are fairly accurate predictors of a weather change coming?
There were little finches in Sydney that made a certain call only about an before it rained. You could bring in the washing by it. They made a totally different call at other times.
There's also a yarn in the bush areas that if you hear Kookaburras before noon there'll be a storm in the afternoon. It was pretty spot on usually.


Max and I had a bit of a 'thing' going on a forum over the yarn about Black Cockatoos leaving the inland and heading for the coast before big rain episodes and floods.

Well Max, there are flocks of them screeching and wheeling and taking up residence in the coastal trees across the paddock from here today. Haven't seen any for months. .... and the Kookas were laughin' from about 9am. None of those finches around here though.

Also the sky is very straaaange looking. That high thin milky overcast that the sun still half shines through which was always a dead cert omen for a cyclone up here when I was a kid. There's no sign of anything on the bom radar though so it'll be interesting to see how the 'omens' turn out. I'll keep ya posted on the nature versus technology predictions.
 

Apparently birds know when it's going to rain because they have a special receptor in their middle ear called the paratympanic organ (vitali organ).

This is very sensitive to air pressure changes and the birds are able to detect changes.

They go and seek shelter in bushes or trees.


You can always install your own weather board.

I retrieved this one from the archives and modified it slightly.

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Seniors Weather Forecasting.jpg

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Watching animals before any weather event, I feel they are more attuned to what is about to happen than we as humans are. Reminds me of the tsunami that hit Thailand ...

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episodes/can-animals-predict-disaster/tall-tales-or-true/131/
 
Birds know when an earthquake is coming. If there are any pheasants around, they let out a loud squawk seconds before it hits.
 
2nd that. Doesn't seem that long ago we were wading through the puddles and whinging about the rain does it? I think this is the longest dry spell for a few years now. It didn't even rain on garbage night so thing's are bad.
 
I agree! Another one that my grandmother always said was "when the cows in the field are laying down, it means it is going to rain."

Never fails!

I heard that one too, TICA!! Plus, something about which direction horses are facing, but can't remember exactly what - maybe they keep their backs to the wind and rain or snow??


Plus, the mourning doves coo a lot when it's going to rain.... truth is, they do that every evening, rain or shine.:D
 
I can confirm that roos are useless as weather vanes, they take no notice of the weather at all and just keep eating wet or dry. The only thing they avoid is the hot part of the day but that really isn't weather.
 

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