Video: Watch a hawk fly through a dense forest.A paper detailing the results has been accepted to the IEEE Conference on Robotics and Automation. Any faster, and a bird or aircraft is sure to smack into something, no matter how much information it has about its environment. The researchers found that, given a certain density of obstacles, there exists a speed below which a bird - and any other flying object - has a fair chance of flying collision-free. While speed is a goshawk’s greatest asset, researchers at MIT say the bird must observe a theoretical speed limit if it wants to avoid a crash. With reflexes that rival a fighter pilot’s, the goshawk zips through a forest at high speeds, constantly adjusting its flight path to keep from colliding with trees and other obstacles. The formidable raptor preys on birds and small mammals, speeding through tree canopies and underbrush to catch its quarry. The northern goshawk is one of nature’s diehard thrill-seekers.
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