Birds Are Literally Starting Fires Because They Want To See The World Burn

And all for a bite to eat.

Birds of prey are being named as the culprits behind a number of wildfires across Australia.

Bob Gosford @bgosford

RT @Birds_Central: Fire Hawks (Black Kites) living up to their name. #Alicebirding @bgosford #birdsandfire

01:19 PM - 30 Sep 2014

It's believed the birds start the fires so they can then capture, kill, and devour animals fleeing the fire.

Chris Watson @Birds_Central

Those Black Kites can find a fire front in a nanosecond! @bgosford #ESA14 #Alicebirding

01:21 AM - 29 Sep 2014

Of course what these stupid fuckin' birds don't realise is that human beings are also fleeing fires, and they can't exactly catch us. So it's just heaps inconvenient and generally shitty.

BOU @IBIS_journal

Are Australian Raptors Real Life Fire Starters? https://t.co/1alU8NISeL #ornithology @IFLScience @bgosford

03:51 PM - 10 Feb 2016

Some species, like Black Kites, are renowned for "baiting" their prey.

Kurmyshov / Getty Images

A 1982 journal by Greg Roberts describes a Black Kite stealing bread from him and then using the bread to fish, dropping it into a nearby lake and waiting for fish to approach the food.

Roberts goes so far as to ask the question: are birds of prey learning from humans?

"The apparent use of a bait to attract the fish is even more unusual," he writes. This bird had evidently not only acquired a taste for live aquatic animals. It had apparently learned of their attraction to bread and exploited this knowledge by deliberately droppingscraps onto the water, thus attracting them to the surface and within striking range.

"Is it possible that this habit was learned by the bird observing human picnickers throwing bread-scraps into the river?"

It seems there's been records of birds starting fires for centuries. Lawyer Bob Gosford interviewed 14 park rangers and many Aboriginal people in central Australia who all say birds use "fire propagation."

Victortyakht / Getty Images

“Reptiles, frogs and insects rush out from the fire, and there are birds that wait in front, right at the foot of the fire, waiting to catch them,” Gosford said.

Dauphincousteau / Getty Images

Gosford presented his findings to the Raptor Research Foundation last year, where he said some birds can carry flaming sticks and twigs at least 50 metres in the air without being burned.

So, birds might be joining us as one of the species that has evolved and learned to use fire. What next, birds driving cars?

giphy.com