How do migrating birds know what formation position they should be?

Question

Is the lead bird aways the same one, and if so how do they get elected?

For instance is no.2 bird always there, etc

Answer 1

It's like the Tour de France.....they all take a turn in front.

Answer 2

U and me dont share E Mail here for obvious reasons ,but only this week I recieved an E mail with pics.showing and explaining how geese organize their flight by rotating through the line.There are other (small)birds that go up very high and pick up the Jet Streem at a precise time of the year. No one knows yet how they do it . Edit points>> Another point about the geese is as each bird flaps their wings it creates an uplift for the bird following,and as the lead bird tires it will drop back and another takes its place and that rotation goes on.The little program suggests that we can learn a lot from their example.

Answer 3

The flying v formation is not only to do with energy efficiency and wind resistance, its also to do with what could be classes as hierarchy. The youngest and least experienced bird is led from the back of the v whilst the eldest and most experienced bird is followed by the others from the front of the v. hope this answers your question. x

Answer 4

I have my own theory on this,,,,,,, The birds start of in the formations you see in the sky, after a few miles the lead bird needs to have a dump so he goes to the back to avoid any birds behind him getting covered in the nasty stuff, if every bird in the formation wants a dump then they all go to the back to do it, hence the birds keep changing lead, hope this crap tale helps you.

Answer 5

the formation is usually a 'V' to make the group, as a whole, to move through the air using as little energy as possible.the birds at the front use more energy than those at the back.Instinctively the birds take it in turns to travel at the front.It also follows that those at the front who tire wouldn't keep the pace up, so would naturally drop back into the slipstream.

Answer 6

Never mind that, how did they work out that the V shape offers less resistance!! Did they do wind tunnel experiments?? Were there flipchards?? How is this passed down to the next generation of birds??

Why don't they try and spice it up like the red arrows and try different formations?

Answer 7

If you take notice you will see later on in the year, birds congregating on telephone wires or bare trees and quite a lot of twittering is going on... They are having an election where they pick a leader, usually a male bird who clucks a lot. He is the one who leads them to winter quarters and when they arrive and mate up, he finds there is no cluck left in him.

The moral to this story is... Keep your beak tightly closed and you will find plenty of work in the egg producing stakes.

"A wise bird knows how to keep silent at election time, and can prove it later on."

Answer 8

the birds use instinct, they can feel the temperatures dropping and so can tell when it is a good time to migrate. they take it in turns to fly in front of the pack as this is where the wind power is strongest, so it uses the most energy.

Answer 9

they fly in the v shape because it is the lease energy consuming. The front bird then goes to the back and the all shift on place up.

Answer 10

through fact the upwash is produced off a chicken’s wing information, it would look effective for birds to fly shoulder-to-shoulder like the offensive line of a soccer group. yet, in accordance to the technological know-how article, this style of formation might stress the birds on the exterior of the formation to artwork so plenty greater good than those flanked with the help of birds on the two section. those with friends at the two wing information might delight in two times the develop of those on the top of the line. The V formation ensures that some birds don’t finally end up looking like bodybuilders jointly as others cruise alongside of their wake. Researchers discovered that a flock of 25 birds in formation can fly 70 % farther than a single chicken utilising an identical quantity of power.

Answer 11

The "V" shaped formation that ducks use is for energy efficiency as it offers the least wind resistance.