How do birds find their way while migrating? Detailed answer

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How do birds find their way while migrating? Detailed answer

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How do birds find their way while migrating?

At the end of summer, many birds in different parts of the world leave their native places and fly to the south for the winter. Sometimes they travel to other continents thousands of miles away. In the spring, these same birds return not only to the same country, but often even to the same nest in the same house!

How do they find their way? Many interesting experiments have been done to find the answer. During one of them, a group of storks was taken from their nests shortly before the time of the autumn migration and moved to another place. From this new location they had to fly in a different direction to reach their winter quarters. But when the time came, they flew in the same direction they flew from their old spot!

It seems that they have an innate instinct that tells them to fly in a certain direction when winter approaches. The ability of birds to find their way home is no less amazing. Birds were taken away from their native places by plane for 400 miles. When they were released, they flew back to themselves!

Simply saying that it is instinct that leads them home does not explain the mystery. How do they find their way? We know that young birds don't get geography lessons from their parents because the parents are often the first to fly themselves. And the birds that fly home often fly at night, so they can't see the landmarks that would help them. Some birds fly over water where there are no landmarks at all.

One hypothesis is that birds can sense the magnetic fields that surround the Earth. Magnetic lines are located in the direction from the north magnetic pole to the south. Perhaps it is these lines that serve as guides for birds. But this theory has not been proven.

Science doesn't really have an exhaustive explanation of how birds find their way when they fly, or how they find their homelands!

One curious historical fact is connected with the flights of birds. As Columbus approached the American continent, he saw large flocks of birds heading southwest. This meant that the land was somewhere nearby, and he changed course and headed in the southwest direction, where the birds flew. And so he landed in the Bahamas, instead of ending up on the coast of Florida!

Author: Likum A.

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