[SkyPilot]

God sure is something.

[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.

[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?

[Mike Darancette]

What happens if the Earth’s magnetic field reverses?

[dfwgator]

[airborne]

Very cool!

[azhenfud]

Interesting!

“....noted that stars may also either fully or in part provide the birds with their visual bearing—not the magnetic field.”

Most “daylight” birds I’ve aroused at night couldn’t find its way to a higher branch to perch upon without some kind of light. Thinking starlight might contribute to their navigation skill is a stretch exercise of my imaginization.

[Myrddin]

I read an article that indicates that many raptors have sensitivity in the ultraviolet range. That lets them spot rodents by observing the fluorescent track of urine. Humans don't see that fluorescent behavior unless they put a black light on the urine.

[Rocky]

OK, good. Now explain homing pigeons.