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araujoms t1_irqjqtc wrote

Reply to comment by limacharley in How do migratory birds know which direction they’re going? by YungPlugg

> Others follow the stars.

I'm skeptical. Do you have a source for that? (For a star other than the Sun, I mean.)

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Saoirsenobas t1_irqrh59 wrote

In the fall the Indigo Bunting becomes restless and wants to constantly move towards their southern migration. Studies were conducted in an observatory with a simulated night sky. With a normal sky the birds almost always trended in the correct direction (south) even if their magnetic sense was interupted. scientists then had the observatory simulate the night sky rotated 180 degrees and noted that the birds now wanted to go north.

Edit: apparently I am bad at making links can anyone help?

Migratory Orientation in the Indigo Bunting, Passerina cyanea. Part II: Mechanism of Celestial Orientation

Stephen T. Emlen

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iayork t1_irr5x2k wrote

Square brackets around the text (e.g. title) followed by regular brackets around the link.

[Migratory Orientation in the Indigo Bunting, Passerina cyanea. Part II: Mechanism of Celestial Orientation](https://academic.oup.com/auk/article/84/4/463/5198008)

> I propose that Indigo Buntings are able to determine their migratory direction in a similar manner, by responding to the Gestalt stimuli provided by the patterning of stars

—Migratory Orientation in the Indigo Bunting, Passerina cyanea. Part II: Mechanism of Celestial Orientation

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swankpoppy t1_irrej1z wrote

Wow that’s incredible. I always thought migration was dominated by earth’s magnetic field.

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limacharley t1_irr43v8 wrote

It has been well documented that migratory birds will get confused and circle certain sources of light pollution at night. Some will circle the same building/light source until they die of exhaustion

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