Can birds sense pressure changes? Maybe they have bio-varios.
I've noticed they seem to chirp, even on gloomy mornings,
when I have noticed pressure rising on the
altimeter or baro. It wouldn't surprise me if
this was true, but I haven't heard of any studies...

So I'm guessing maybe they know they are
climbing from vario alone...

In article ,
Derrick Steed wrote:
Pardon this input from an uninformed intruder to this subject, but why
couldn't
birds simply sense how strong the lift is by the amount of stress it puts
on
their "airframe". When I pump iron, I'm all too aware of the amount of
effort
required. Surely birds can do the same.

Ted Frost
Soaring Society of Boulder

The stress would only change when acceleration was present (as in entering a
thermal, we use our bums for for that - transitting from an area of intense
sink to and area of lesser sink: e.g. no thermal). In a steady climb the
stress wouldn't change and would be the same as in normal turning flight. I
suspect that Martin's observation about the birds choosing a more extreme
dihedral has more to do with lack of effort than sensing the lift intensity
- a high dihedral result and a high value of lateral stability, but poor
efficiency of the wing.

Rgds,

Derrick Steed






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Mark Boyd
Avenal, California, USA