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Ingo Schiffner at RIN11
At RIN11 Ingo Schiffner gave his presentation Mathematical Analysis of Pigeon Tracks (the characterisation of the underlying navigational process). He analysed 167 tracks with birds navigating from four different locations and from two different directions. His theory is that pigeons navigate using at least four different components and these components change over the course of…
Magnetoreception – the ability to sense the Earth’s magnetic field
David Keays is one of the mega stars of animal navigation research and has spent a life time trying to work out how magnetism might work. Here is a summary of his latest work: Magnetoreception is the ability to sense the Earth’s magnetic field, which is used for orientation and navigation. Behavioural experiments have shown…
Another description of how animal navigation might work
In a recent address to RIN Dr Kate Jeffery of the Institute of Behavioural Neuroscience at University College London described a very complete structure for understanding animal navigation. See https://animalnav.org/navigation-networks-in-the-brain/ We at www.animalnav.org have been struggling with exactly these concerns. Prof Jeffery postulates that you need four things to create a navigation system A compass…
Cuckoos – BTO satellite
For those of us following the BTO satellite tagged Cuckoos, we can see Spring is well on its way – three birds have already left their winter locations in the Congo rainforest and are at their stopover sites in West Africa. Later this month, rested and loaded with the fat that will fuel their journeys, they will…
Modelling collective navigation via non-local communication
A recent paper called “Modelling collective navigation via non-local communication”has been published by S. T. Johnston(1) and K. J. Painter(2). They tell us that a group of individuals produce better navigational results thanindividuals which is why flocks of birds are more efficient than a solo migrant. TheRAF confirms this where they have found that a…
Cuckoo Navigation a Theory
We know that cuckoos nest over winter in the Congo and breed in Europe. UK cuckoos arrive in the latter part of April and lay their eggs in another bird’s nest. The common host of cuckoos are Reed warblers, Meadow pipits and even non-migratory Robins. The juveniles a month later in May. The fledgling casts out the other…