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.

The migration of the Blackpoll Warbler (Setophaga Stiata) in the New World

There have been many recent press reports of work done by Dr Bill DeLuca of the University of Massachusetts.  On the migration of the Blackpoll Warbler. Please find a description of this work here: http://phys.org/news/2015-03-tiny-songbird-migrate-non-stop-miles.html see also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackpoll_warbler Animalnav.org has been talking about very long migrations of birds over the ocean for a long time and…

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…

Albatross dynamic soaring

Please find this PDF which follows a lot of research on Albatrosses.  This presentation throws up some really interesting issues.  I feel comfortable that albatrosses when they decide to go home follow their sense of direction to their home islands in the South Atlantic: the Crozet Islands and Kerguelen as they fly straight there. However, please…

Bar headed goose

Recent work at Bognor University by a team headed by Charles Bishop has shown they actually follow the contours as they fly from their breeding ground in the high lakes North of the Himalayas south over the Himalayas into the Indian sub continent See wikipedia for images and an overview http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bar-headed_goose This is an interesting…

Chicken Head Tracking

Our Editor Antonio Nafarrate has sent us this: Hello all and happy 2015. Please check enclosed forwarded video that is definite proof that birds have in their brains a Schuler tuned gyroscopically stabilized inertial platform. Best wishes from Antonio Nafarrate. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dPlkFPowCc

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…

Osprey navigation paths

Intro>> The Rutland  (England) Osprey Project has been running for 18 years when Ospreys began to breed again on Rutland Water in the UK after 150 years. These birds are cared for by the Rutland Osprey Project who have fitted GPS trackers to some of these birds which give very accurate and detailed data of…