Birds navigation

[rov1100]

How much do some birds use the sun for navigation? Would birds become extinct if for some reason the sun was not available?

eg. thousands of birds fall from the sky at the same time the sun was eclipsed by the moon. Coincidence or what?

[boxtops]

They reckoned that the bird death in the US was due to methane being issued from a lake or similar (I only half remember the item). Birds navigate using the magnetic fields of the earth, not the sun - or so I believe.

[rov1100]

The reports I have read say the jury is still out as to how they navigate and like you say the Earth's magnetic field is a candidate. Maybe they use a variety of methods.


This is just such an extract:

//Scientists have shown that animals can use a variety of cues to help them migrate long distances and return to the same breeding or feeding grounds. These include visual landmarks, the position of the Sun in the day or the stars at night, and even the smell of specific locations en route.///

[rov1100]

boxtops the theory about the birds dying of Methane poisoning has been blown out of the water by recent toxiology tests:

///Birds Falling From Sky and Other Bizarre Animal Deaths | Exploding ..... but the case took a bizarre twist when toxicology tests came back negative. ... 1000 Birds Fall from Arkansas Sky in Hitchcockian . ...
www.livescience.com/.../dead-blackbirds-arkan
sas-bizarre-animal-deaths-
110105.html - Cached///

[wildwood]

In migration, birds use a variety of navigation aid; sun, stars, magnetic fields and probably others we don't know about. Some birds migrate for days continuously so can not use the sun at night. Over head clouding will not prevent them from flying at night but the electricity from storms seems to confuse them and many birds have landed on ships out in the ocean during a storm and take off again when it subsides. They appear to be able to detect bad weather ahead and fly lower/higher so it is believed that the electricity with bad storms confuses them.

I do not for a minute believe that it was the eclipse that caused the deaths.

[rov1100]

Well wildwood whats your theory? It has the scientists baffled so there is no explainable theory.

We don't seem to know fully how animals migrate and there have been a number of theories. Take the turtles that travel from South America to Afrfica, never deviating but carry on in a straight line. It was in the news last week and had fitted a transponder on its back to see the progress.

Or take the swans that travel from Siberia each year. They were able to see that they followed the coastline of Europe to get to warmer climes.

[NazNomad]

"I do not for a minute believe that it was the eclipse that caused the deaths."

Ditto ...

[redman41]

Info on this Site may prove useful rov1100 !

http://www.backyardnature.net/birdnavi.htm