How Do Birds Know Where to Migrate To? 🐦

Morning Migrators!

Look at all these birds migrating for the winter:

Majestic right?

But how do they know where to go?

Like, imagine, you're a little baby bird and it's your first time migrating.

Oh, and you’ve got none of your bird buddies to give you directions.

How do you know which way to go?

The answer?

(This will blow your mind)

Migratory birds can SEE magnetic fields!!!

WHAAAAA???

What do I mean?

Well, we all know that the Earth is spinning… right?

But what you may not know is that inside the Earth there’s a whole lot of molten iron… which is ALSO spinning.

All this spinning, thanks to some complex physics reasons, basically turns the Earth into a giant MAGNET!

North is positive, south is negative

Ok, but how do we know birds use this to navigate?

Good question.

Well, in 2010 some smart dudes fit these European Robins with clear or frosted goggles like this:

Lol.

What they found was that the birds needed clear vision in their right eyes to migrate correctly.

Why not the left eye? No idea.

The theory is that magnetic fields cause some chemical reactions in birds' eyes that affect their sensitivity to light.

Meaning the magnetic field might manifest as brighter or darker patterns across the bird's vision.

Which could tell them which direction to head!

Stay Cute,
Reece, Henry & Dylan 🌈

If you’re that sexy friend, subscribe here.