Naked Science Forum
Life Sciences => Plant Sciences, Zoology & Evolution => Topic started by: neilep on 11/09/2007 19:16:47
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Dear Twichers (Bird watchers)
here are some birds :
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Nice aren't they ?
How high do birds fly at ?...do they all fly at different heights ?.....what bird reaches the highest altitude ?... WHY do birds fly at different altitudes !
Tweet me to some feathered vertebrate education !
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I remember seeing not long ago that a Griffin Vulture has been spotted at 35,000 feet; but the more commonly Bar Geese regularly exceed 29,000 feet as they fly over Mount Everest on their migration.
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I remember seeing not long ago that a Griffin Vulture has been spotted at 35,000 feet; but the more commonly Bar Geese regularly exceed 29,000 feet as they fly over Mount Everest on their migration.
CRIPES !!..THANKS GEORGE !!
How can they survive the change in air pressure and temperature at those altitudes !!.....My word !!..that's extraordinary !!
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I remember seeing not long ago that a Griffin Vulture has been spotted at 35,000 feet; but the more commonly Bar Geese regularly exceed 29,000 feet as they fly over Mount Everest on their migration.
Wow I had no Idea they could fly that high!
Ditto what Neil said! Do they have some sort of physical feature that
enables them to make adjustments like that in the altitude..? As far as
there breathing and tolerating such drastic changes? WOW!
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Powerful birds which are essentially carnivourus need to fly very high above the ground because they are territorial. The fighter plane which flies at greater height wins. It is easier to attack from heights if there is a possibility of enemy or competitor or contender.
They make their nest very high above the ground for the same reason. As animal species down below knows that it is better to finish them when they are young.
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Powerful birds which are essentially carnivourus need to fly very high above the ground because they are territorial. The fighter plane which flies at greater height wins. It is easier to attack from heights if there is a possibility of enemy or competitor or contender.
They make their nest very high above the ground for the same reason. As animal species down below knows that it is better to finish them when they are young.
I am not aware of birds that are territorial in airspace - it is only around the nest that they are territorial.
It is certainly true that extra hight is useful for searching a larger area for food, as well as for gaining speed when swooping, but it also has to be remembered that it takes time to gain height, and therefore is only useful for birds that expect to spend a lot of time at altitude (e.g. on long migrations, or birds that spend a lot of time searching for infrequent meals).
In the two cases mentioned above, geese are not carnivorous, and while vultures are carnivorous they are normally scavengers rather than hunters.
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Migration in that case must involve traversing distance over diverse geographies under a possible threat from territorial birds.
Which I think is the case and due to the threat from carnivorus birds or territorial birds they attempt the migration in groups just like fishes.
A coherent groups of small birds attempt the same strategy for defense against Eagles.
They make formations to fool or attack the predator.
Kind of decpetion tactic.
Or these birds fly at an even greater heights to secure against the threat.
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Migration in that case must involve traversing distance over diverse geographies under a possible threat from territorial birds.
Which I think is the case and due to the threat from carnivorus birds or territorial birds they attempt the migration in groups just like fishes.
A coherent groups of small birds attempt the same strategy for defense against Eagles.
They make formations to fool or attack the predator.
Kind of decpetion tactic.
Or these birds fly at an even greater heights to secure against the threat.
In this case, at least one reason the geese are flying so high is to get over the high mountains in their way.
Birds migrate in flocks for a number of reasons.
Yes, there might be some defensive advantage, but it is not the primary advantage.
The two main advantages are that it allows the more experienced birds to act as pathfinders for less experienced birds, and most crucially, it provides an aerodynamic advantage (the close formation flying allows birds following to gain a little additional lift from the slipstream of the bird infront - the stronger birds will tend to be at the front, but they will also change positions during the flight to share the load).
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Yes aerodynamics efficiency can be considered advantageous but there are birds which cover large distances largely on themselves .. they do not take the advantage of group flight. Exmaple Vultures mentioned above which flies at 35000 ft. Scavneging requires large distance travel. If aerodynamics was the primary reason then they should tried that option
as well.
There are eagles which fly at great altitude but as I said they are territorial. And they largely dominate over small birds.
Within a group philosophy inexprience is required other wise everyone will fight for the driver's seat.
Stupidity is required in a large Group behaviour.
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I have talked to pilots who have seen geese at 35,000 feet? How are geese able to fly at 35,000 feet without suffering from hypoxia?