If you're a West Coast white-crowned sparrow flapping around New Jersey, you're probably lost. But a group of the tiny songbirds shipped to the East Coast found their way back from Newark to their winter home in Mexico.
Scientists caught songbirds in the midst of their migration and rerouted them a mere 2,200 miles to New Jersey onboard commercial jets in windowless pet compartments. Once they were released, adult birds found their way through parts of the country they'd never navigated before and arrived safely at their winter nesting grounds.
For years, bird migrations have puzzled scientists. Birds use a combination of polarized light, internal clocks, magnetic compasses, and visual cues to find their way.
Apparently they also use an internal map of the world so concise it includes places the birds have never been before.
"Our experiment indicates that the navigational map of adult white-crowned sparrows encompasses at least the continental United States and allows them to correct for vast displacements very rapidly -- within days, at least -- hinting that migratory birds may possess a global navigational map."
While adult birds in the study took a direct southwestern route, young birds who had never made the trip before flew due south. The direct route taken by the adult birds suggests that Avian Mapquest sharpens with experience.
Via AFP
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