Mystery of bird navigation system still unsolved

ByRichard Nissen Reading Time: 1 minute

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn21688-mystery-of-bird-navigation-system-still-unsolved.html

We have always said that the work of our hero David Kaeys is critically important in demolishing the magnetite cluster in the beak theory.  This theory proposed that the magnetite group acted as a compass which enabled birds to sense the magnetic field and therefore use this for navigation.

I am delighted that other places such as this link confirms this work and gives more information.  We are deeply skeptical of the idea that just knowing where North is is of any help to navigation as you need a map showing your current position and that of the destination to use a compass.

Richard Nissen
editor

Similar Posts

  • Nature’s Radar – Tristan Gooley

    Nature’s Radar a paper by Tristan Gooley (one of our heroes) published in the Journal of Navigation in October 2012. Tristan and a friend set out in a little boat to navigate from Kirkwall on the North of Ockney via the Faroes over the top of Iceland to Reykjavik. Please see http://www.naturalnavigator.com/nature’s_radar.pdf for the full paper. The…

  • How young animals learn to migrate

    While advances in biologging have revealed many spectacular animal migrations, it remains poorly understood how young animals learn to migrate. Even in social species, it is unclear how migratory skills are transmitted from one generation to another and what implications this may have. Here we show that in Caspian terns Hydroprogne caspia family groups, genetic and foster…

  • Light pollution is important

    Atchoi, E., Mitkus, M., Vitta, P., Machado, B., Rocha, M., Juliano, M., Bried, J. & Rodríguez, A. 2023 Ontogenetic exposure to light influences seabird vulnerability to light pollution. Journal of Experimental Biology 226. doi: 10.1242/jeb.245126. Atchoi 2023 (no pdf) Light pollution critically affects the fledglings of burrow-nesting seabirds, leading to massive mortality events. The successful management of this pollutant depends…

  • 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…