It’s one thing to exploit an already raging fire; it’s quite another to start one yourself. But at least three species of raptors in northern Australia seem to be doing exactly that. Like raptors elsewhere in the world, fire hawks, as they’re called collectively—black kites, brown falcons, and whistling kites—hunt in the vicinity of bushfires. But witnesses have observed these birds doing something radically different: flying into active fires, picking up smoldering sticks, and then dropping them in unburned brush or grass, spreading the flames to new areas, presumably to flush out prey.
