Slightly OT, How do birds fly IMC?

I want to know how a bird maintains positional awareness and avoids
vertigo while in the clouds. My next stop is to try & find out via
Google & other online resources.
If anyone here knows, though, it may make an interesting topic.

Ricky

Ricky wrote:
I want to know how a bird maintains positional awareness and avoids
vertigo while in the clouds. My next stop is to try & find out via

How do you know they do? All birds? Small birds?

A bird will feel aerodynamic and gravitational forces directly via the
force he must exert to fly, the shape in which he must hold his wings,
etc.

Birds are weird creatures, by the way; there used to be that "Meet Bob"
commercial on TV that had some guy whistling the jingle. Our bird would
go bananas BEFORE we perceived that the commercial was even on.
Weirdest thing. Also, if you record a bird and play it back to him, he
will react to it before possibly can. My theory is that the sound has
less distance to travel from his ear to his pea brain, which is less
cluttered anyway, so he's able to respond much faster than larger animals.

What about bats? They just sort of flap around in the dark. Bees
navigate. I don't think the answers to these things has much bearing on
piloting because humans are not physiologically predisposed to flight.

But it is a good question; what happens to a flight of geese launching
through a low overcast?

-c

Ricky wrote:
I want to know how a bird maintains positional awareness and avoids
vertigo while in the clouds.

I assume migratory birds use their internal compass sense to maintain
awareness. If it's good enough to land you on the same beach halfway
around the world every year, it's good enough to fly through a cloud with.

Of course, I think most birds are smart enough to avoid the clouds in
the first place. You don't hear many stories of birds icing up and
having carburetor trouble (or running out of fuel, for that matter. :P ).

TheSmokingGnu

gatt wrote in
:

But it is a good question; what happens to a flight of geese launching
through a low overcast?

They bump into each other, resulting in goose bumps! :-)

Ricky wrote:
I want to know how a bird maintains positional awareness and avoids
vertigo while in the clouds. My next stop is to try & find out via
Google & other online resources.
If anyone here knows, though, it may make an interesting topic.

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Birding-1...fly-clouds.htm

"Birds can fly in clouds for very short periods only. Just like us, they
would get disoriented. They might fly up or down through clouds to get to
clear sky but they will not spend much time in them. They have no special
senses and get quickly disoriented when they cannot see the horizon. I know
of no statistics on birdstrikes in clouds.

Roger Lederer at Ornithology.com"

Jim Logajan wrote:
Ricky wrote:
I want to know how a bird maintains positional awareness and avoids
vertigo while in the clouds. My next stop is to try & find out via
Google & other online resources.
If anyone here knows, though, it may make an interesting topic.

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Birding-1...fly-clouds.htm

"Birds can fly in clouds for very short periods only. Just like us, they
would get disoriented. They might fly up or down through clouds to get to
clear sky but they will not spend much time in them. They have no special
senses and get quickly disoriented when they cannot see the horizon. I know
of no statistics on birdstrikes in clouds.

Roger Lederer at Ornithology.com"

Have you ever noticed that when Geese fly in a Vee formation, one side
of the Vee is always longer than the other. Do you know why that
situation exists?
There are more Geese in that line.

--
Dudley Henriques

On May 27, 6:58*pm, Dudley Henriques wrote:


Have you ever noticed that when Geese fly in a Vee formation, one side
of the Vee is always longer than the other. Do you know why that
situation exists?
There are more Geese in that line.


Ha, ha. But really, does anyone have a theory why that is?

skym wrote in news:e1d25e29-b098-4632-a1c7-
:

On May 27, 6:58*pm, Dudley Henriques wrote:


Have you ever noticed that when Geese fly in a Vee formation, one side
of the Vee is always longer than the other. Do you know why that
situation exists?
There are more Geese in that line.


Ha, ha. But really, does anyone have a theory why that is?

They have an underdeveloped sense of symmetry and math skills~?



Bertie

skym wrote:
On May 27, 6:58 pm, Dudley Henriques wrote:


Have you ever noticed that when Geese fly in a Vee formation, one side
of the Vee is always longer than the other. Do you know why that
situation exists?
There are more Geese in that line.


Ha, ha. But really, does anyone have a theory why that is?
Actually I was kidding about the extended line on one side. I believe
Geese can fly a perfect V with equal sides if they desire to do so.

I vaguely recall some time ago someone telling me that Geese use the
same sort of formation strategy as NASCAR drivers drafting on a super
speedway. The formation creates less overall drag than individuals
flying alone. This enables them to use less energy flying and they can
extend their range this way.

It's fascinating really the way nature works with these animals.
I lived for many years on a riverside in Maryland. My home there was
right at the water's edge. We used to watch the birds migrate each year
and always marveled at their precision.
I distinctly remember one year watching as the leader broke out of the
formation and drifted back to the tail end charlie position as the next
bird in the line took his place.




--
Dudley Henriques

On May 27, 6:23 pm, Dudley Henriques wrote:
skym wrote:
On May 27, 6:58 pm, Dudley Henriques wrote:

Have you ever noticed that when Geese fly in a Vee formation, one side
of the Vee is always longer than the other. Do you know why that
situation exists?
There are more Geese in that line.

Ha, ha. But really, does anyone have a theory why that is?

Actually I was kidding about the extended line on one side. I believe
Geese can fly a perfect V with equal sides if they desire to do so.

LOL, "desire to", Geese have about the same IQ as Bertie,
(but at least they actually do fly). I've seen formations like

/
/\
/ \

and even more complicated.
I design EAR's as in this link,
http://www.trak4.com/earco/index.html
There's a bit of a story there about Geese.
Got loon sounds there.

I vaguely recall some time ago someone telling me that Geese use the
same sort of formation strategy as NASCAR drivers drafting on a super
speedway. The formation creates less overall drag than individuals
flying alone. This enables them to use less energy flying and they can
extend their range this way.

There was a movie about a guy who trained geese
to migrate using an ultra light.

It's fascinating really the way nature works with these animals.
I lived for many years on a riverside in Maryland. My home there was
right at the water's edge. We used to watch the birds migrate each year
and always marveled at their precision.
I distinctly remember one year watching as the leader broke out of the
formation and drifted back to the tail end charlie position as the next
bird in the line took his place.
Dudley Henriques

Ken