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IF I WAS A BIRD WHAT KIND OF FLOCK WOULD I FLY WITH? BY PETER ANDREW SACCO WITH CONTRIBUTING EDITOR DEBBIE WILLIAMS Copyright.
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Starlings Fly in Flocks So Dense They Look Like Sculptures | WIRED
Lessons from Geese
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Flock (birds)

This provides safety in numbers, since each individual is less likely to be attacked by a predator than if it were travelling alone. Some, such as geese and cranes, travel in their family groups inside larger flocks. Migrating flocks of small birds tend to be much more broadly scattered.

Starlings Fly in Flocks So Dense They Look Like Sculptures | WIRED

Each one looks after itself, but they keep in touch other using contact calls, and may gather at roosts along the way. Some large birds, such as geese, fly in V formation. This shape helps the flock to make better progress. The front bird breaks up the wall of air that the flock flies into. This leaves a wake of swirling air behind, which helps give a lift to the next bird along.

In this way, each bird in the V gets some help from the one in front of it. After a while, the leader drops back and another bird takes over. Experienced flyers usually do most of the work. Scientists have shown that birds in V formation can fly 70 per cent further than one bird flying alone. Formation flying also helps a flock of birds to stick together. Geese stay in close contact by honking as they fly, and the white markings on their rumps work as 'landing lights', helping each bird to see its neighbour.

If one goose becomes injured and has to land, a few family members will stay with it until it recovers.

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When it is ready to fly again they all set off and look for a new flock to join. The weather can help or hinder migration.

Lessons from Geese

The sun heats up the land, causing warm air currents called 'thermals' to spiral upwards. Large birds - like birds of prey, storks and herons - use these thermals to gain height without using up precious energy by flapping. Once they are up high, they glide towards their destination on the wind, just like hang-gliders. Without thermals, many large birds could never get across seas and deserts.

Flying speed depends on wind. In still conditions, small birds fly at an average speed of 30—35 kph and medium-sized ones at 45—55 kph. But with the wind behind them, birds can easily cover 1, km miles in just 24 hours. Wind allows some birds to perform amazing flying feats. Bar-tailed godwits have been recorded migrating from Alaska to New Zealand — a distance of almost 11, km 6, miles — in just six days. Different birds migrate at different speeds, depending on how they get their energy.

Small birds like warblers use their fat reserves like a packed lunch, to see them through as quickly and directly as possible. They can view it from any angle, and watch it alter shape at 10 frames per second. The result has been an infusion of quantifiable observation into a field long rife with speculation.

By zooming in on the three-dimensional reconstructions, the researchers can begin to understand the spatial relationships individual starlings within it have with one another. Rather, each member has a good deal of space behind and in front. That makes sense, since the presence of a clear path in the direction of travel minimizes the likelihood of collisions should the birds need to shift their course abruptly, as is likely when a falcon attacks. How many neighbors is that? Laboratory tests have shown that pigeons are readily able to discriminate between up to six different objects, but not more.

That seems to be enough. Focusing on more than one or two neighbors enables a starling to maneuver quickly when needed. But by limiting to six or seven the number of neighbors it pays attention to, it may avoid cluttering its brain with less reliable, or simply overwhelming, information from birds farther away.

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Whether watching those neighbors is all they do, though, is not yet known. Several StarFLAG collaborators at the University of Groningen, in the Netherlands, have been using these closely watched flocks to calibrate computer simulations more sophisticated than any others used before to analyze flock behavior. The researchers are also trying to understand how starlings in flight communicate; though everyone agrees that they use sight to navigate in close quarters, that may not be all they use.

Frank Heppner is confident that researchers will soon be able to explain many such mysteries, even as he continues to question some of the most basic assumptions about flocking behavior. He wonders, for example, why the Roman starlings so spectacularly maneuver above their roosting sites for many minutes before settling down.

Starlings may do what they do simply because their individual programming makes complex behaviors, like flocks, inevitable.

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Birders, of all people, ought to understand that, since they know how simple biological rules like a basic human interest in brightly colored, moving objects can lead to unpredictable and apparently irrational behaviors—such as jetting off to Brownsville to spot a golden-crowned warbler. Such practical applications of understanding flock behaviors might be worth as much to some people as knowing the intentions of the gods.

Starlings did not winter in Rome in such numbers in years past, but climate change, combined with other factors, has made the city more comfortable for them. Flocks of many shorebirds are diminishing as their habitats and foods are altered. And it is due to us, of course, that no one can anymore enjoy the sight of one of the greatest of flocking species: the passenger pigeon.

The most quintessentially human behavior flocks reveal, though, may turn out to be the quest to both understand and enjoy them. People want to know how the world at large operates, but they also want to simply appreciate it. Those flashing dunlins, and those starlings whirling like swift black smoke, will remain a compelling sight no matter what the computer models postulate. Starlings are easy to find. But capturing their twisted formations as they evade predators takes commitment and vision. Read more. Here are some good candidates for your less-than-favorite birds. Current thinking on diet and brain evolution?

Starlings Fly in Flocks So Dense They Look Like Sculptures | WIRED

Lessons from Geese

Got a tip?

Flock (birds)