Birds Can "See" Earth's Magnetic Field

National Geographic ^ | 9-27-2007 | John Roach

[SkyPilot]

God sure is something.

[Beagle8U]

If Humans can “See” the temp change in bodies of water I have no doubt that birds can see a magnetic field.

[xmission]

Amen

[knews_hound]

When you read about stuff like this;

Alaska Bird Makes Longest Nonstop Flight Ever Measured

You have to know there must be some mechanism involved to be able to perceive the magnetic field.  The thought that they can SEE the field is astounding to me.

Cheers,

knewshound

knewshounds blog

[Rudder]

They got the thalamus wrong. The thalamus contains the lateral geniculate bodies, nuclei that serve to relay visual information from the optic nerve to the occipital (visual) cortex.

[Young Werther]

In SciAm there was an article which pointed out that certain birds accomplish long distance migrations by following the Earth's magnetic field lines. The birds have minute particles of magnitite in their brain cells and voila their internal compasses do the job.

In another article an Atlantic tern which migrates from Nova Scotia to the North shore of South America were tested in a different manner. They were encased in a sphere which was painted black. Inorder to test the thesis, the scientists changed the day night cycle to get the bird on a standard time. When migration is about to begin the bird's genetalia shrink. Thus there is less body weight for the long migration. The sphere that housed the birds had minute holes which were made so that the Northern Hemisphere Celestial Sphere was portrayed. The inside of the shpere was covered with carbon paper and as the migration began the birds would try to launch themselves southward. From the bird tracks in the sphere the scientists concluded that these birds also performed a rudimentary form of celestial navigation.

Ain't it amazin'?

[Rb ver. 2.0]

So all we have to do is figure out a way to manipulate the earth’s magnetic field and we can drive all these dammed Canadian Geese from the South?

[Does so]

"...The inside of the sphere was covered with carbon paper...the bird tracks in the sphere the scientists concluded that these birds also performed a rudimentary form of celestial navigation. Ain't it amazin'...?"

We already knew that birds could read Earth's manetic lines, and celestial navigation would be important as birds migrate at night. That birds see magnetic lines and navigate by stars is new.

By the way, UNC/Chapel Hill, is active in some elegant studies to determine just how closely birds evolved from dinosaurs. I don't agree with their findings, but their bird limb ontogony observations were very nicely done. I agree with this observer: http://www.dinosauria.com/jdp/archie/paulfed.html

[Mike Darancette]

What happens if the Earth’s magnetic field reverses?

[Clock King]

Nature adapts. The field has changed a lot during earth’s history, and life is still here! BTW, bird may be able to see the magnetic field, and shark can sense it in other ways, but us Humans got the wonder of the color spectrum.

[Robert A Cook PE]

So, what are the birds going to do when the magnetic field drops to near zero the next few years?

Or, in a equally bad case, when the north magnetic pole moves sideways from Hudson Bay so far the birds end up in Seattle rather than mid-Manitoba.

[P.O.E.]

What happens if the Earth’s magnetic field reverses?

[TaMoDee]

All birds will fly backwards?

[Hot Tabasco]

we can drive all these dammed Canadian Geese from the South?

Where you gonna drive them? Here in Michigan they're all over the darn place, we don't have any room left for your geese. Maybe thats why they're down with you.........

[Beagle8U]

They will also wait for a cold front to catch a ride on the jet-stream for the trip south.

They return north the same way, using the air currents.

[Reeses]

Some birds seem to prefer sitting on powerlines. I wonder if the smooth 60Hz magnetic field oscillations makes their internal compasses generate a buzz.

It might be possible to train a bird to respond to radio signals. Someone with lots of time on their hands could put out bird food randomly along with various strong radio signals and see who shows up. Hmmm, I'll change my voter registration to Democrat, apply for a government grant and take a really long vacation. I have to work global warming into the grant request somehow.

[dfwgator]

[airborne]

Very cool!

[muawiyah]

Our local Giant Canada Geese have gotten so fat they no longer fly ~ they simply walk.

Changing the magnetic field wouldn't help a bit around here.