Intro This site takes you into the world where technology is trying to understand animal migration by using tags and a sophisticated satellite system to follow routes taken by animals. Up until now tags have often been very heavy, or at least too heavy for a lot of tiny birds that make huge migrations such…
Bird Navigation
Bird navigation is a fascinating and intricate process that involves a variety of sensory and cognitive abilities. Discover the science behind how birds find their way during long-distance migrations, including the role of visual, magnetic, olfactory, and celestial cues. Learn about the amazing adaptations that birds have developed to navigate different environments and conditions, from Arctic tundra to tropical rainforests. Explore the practical applications of bird navigation research, including conservation, aviation, and robotics. Discover our resources and expert insights on bird navigation and expand your understanding of one of the most extraordinary abilities in the animal kingdom.
How young cuckoos find their winter grounds
Please find this interesting link to important work on Cuckoos done by Kasper Thorup and his team in Denmark. http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0168940 They were able to tag and therefore track fledgling cuckoos. This work is very important as the major question for us is, how does a fledgling cuckoo find its way to its wintering grounds in…
Animal Navigation Model
Antonio Nafarrate, one of our associate editors has sent his latest thinking: I am very interested in how so much of what he presents here fits with other pieces in our puzzle to understand how Animal Navigation might work Richard Nissen editor I have some new ideas that may connect my Animal Navigation Model with…
Our co-editor Antonio Nafarrate has recently written these remarks
Following the 2016 Royal Institute of Navigation (RIN) Conference on “Animal Navigation”, Dr. Painter claims that after some 50 years of work, the Magnetic “mechanism is not fully understood”. In my judgment, it will never be, because there is no such mechanism. The Geomagnetic Field (GMF) is only a minor perturbation to the true navigational…
Mathematical analysis of the homing flights of pigeons based on GPS tracks
Ingo Schiffner At the RIN 11 Animal Navigation Conference Ingo Schiffner, presented a paper: Mathematical Analysis of Pigeon Tracks, characterisation of the underlying Navigational Process and now he has produced another paper covering Mathematical analysis of the homing fights of pigeons based on GPS tracks. For me, this work begins to create an underlying mathematical basis…
Cuckoo Migration
Cuckoo Migration is one of the great mysteries and to date there is still no agreement on how Cuckoos find their way to the Congo for the winter starting from different locations in Europe. The team at Copenhagen University under Prof Kasper Thorup have been able to tag fledgling cuckoos to follow their migration….
Long-Distance Nocturnal Navigator
Warrant11 2016 Here is a fascinating paper about The Australian Bogong Moth Agrotis infusa: which is the most amazing Long-Distance Nocturnal Navigator. As they navigate at night their feat is perhaps even more amazing than the migration of the Monarch butterfly in the USA. Richard Nissen editor Warrant E, Frost B, Green K, Mouritsen H, Dreyer D, Adden A, Brauburger K and Heinze S (2016) The Australian…