Ancient civilizations couldn’t figure out how animals came and went with the seasons. They came up with all kinds of stories

rsa_migration1_01

But the truth behind navigation turned out to be way better than anything they could have imagined. Bobolinks take an annual trip of more than 12,000 miles. Monarch butterflies bat their wings for up to 6,000 miles.

rsa_migration2_01

With no GPS, how are they doing it? Lots of animals get their major move on using these three tools:

1. Sun compass

rsa_migration4a_01rsa_migration4b_01_01

2. Stars. Most migrating songbirds travel by night. They learn constellation patterns and orient to those patterns. Light pollution throws a monkey wrench in their plans.

rsa_migration3_01

3. Magnetic fields.

rsa_migration5_01

 

Check our facts!

K. Able, Gathering of Angels: Migrating Birds and Their Ecology. Comstock Publishing, 2003.

W. Hamilton, III, The Auk. Vol. 79, No. 2 (April 1962), pp. 208-233.

O. Taylor, Monarch Butterfly: Top Ten Facts. April 2009.

W. M. Hamner, P.P. Hamner, S.W. Strand, Sun-compass Migration by Aurelia aurita: Population Retention and Reproduction in Saanich Inlet, British Columbia. June 1994, Volume 199, Issue 3, pp. 347-356.

All About Birds. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Poot, H., B. J. Ens, H. de Vries, M. A. H. Donners, M. R. Wernand, and J. M. Marquenie. 2008. Green light for nocturnally migrating birds. Ecology and Society 13(2): 47.

W. Wiltschko, U. Munro, H. Ford, R. Wiltschko, Aviation Orientation: The Pulse Effect Is Mediated by the Magnetite Receptors in the Upper Beak. March 2009, Vol. 276, No. 1665, pp. 227-2232.

_____

By Roar. Illustrated by Buzz.