That Bird Blog – Bird Care and History for Pet Birds

If you observe wild birds, you’ve no doubt marveled at their ability to fly through dense brush without touching a single branch.  In NYC, I’ve twice been surprised to see pigeons flying at full speed through amazingly tight spaces when pursued by Red-Tailed Hawks.  Bats utilize echolocation to perform similar feats, but with few exceptions (i.e. the Oilbird, please see below), birds lack this adaptation.  So how do they do it?  According to a recent study (Current Biology, Oct., 2011) at Australia’s Vision Center and the University of Queensland, some species rely upon vision alone.

“See-Compare-Adjust Course”

Researchers worked with Budgerigars (Parakeets) that had been trained to fly an indoor course that allowed for careful monitoring.  They were able to show that the birds used their vision to sense and compare the speed at which they passed background images, and then adjusted their flight path accordingly.  Read More »

Who hasn’t marveled at the way bird flocks seem to move as a single organism? Groups ranging in size from a dozen Zebra Finches to millions of Budgerigars change direction with astonishing fluidity and speed, confusing predators and leaving observers to wonder just  how they mange to accomplish such feats.

Flexible Leadership

While birding in deserts, grasslands and other open habitats that allowed long, clear views of large flocks, I’ve tried, unsuccessfully, to determine if it was a single leader “calling the shots” or some sort of unobservable group dynamics at work.

Recently, researchers at Oxford and Eotvos Universities have provided part of the answer, at least where pigeons are concerned.  Research published in the April, 2010 edition of the journal Nature, establishes that pigeons use flexible hierarchy system to make group decisions (direction of travel, choice of feeding site, etc.).  Read More »