Comments on: Birds Use Light, Not Magnetic Field, to Migrate

By: Nopke

Nopke — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 18:27:40 +0000

It’s kinda amazing that they still seem to “sense” the magnetic field up there in the air, considered the size of those systems in a bird.

My birds, very different species and not migration birds, respond slow to light. They need a lot of time to adjust from dark to light, it seems to make them desoriented. So, to migrate back to where they came from … from the floor to their sleeping place up there (when something disturbs them in the middle of the night).

The use of this research is beyond doubt .. there is no use. I myself would not want to perform research on animals only for a better understanding of them. It’s not worthy.

By: Abhilasha

Abhilasha — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 17:35:08 +0000

Too confusing…read about the magnetic sensors in Robins and now light sensors in the eye…take a break. Similar posts should be separated by atleast 7 days.

By: JayKay

JayKay — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:06:54 +0000

@Alex Whiteside – pardon..? It’s OK I think I get it, haha!

By: Fuzz

Fuzz — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:24:24 +0000

I learned about this in college. Very interesting. x

By: Alex Whiteside

Alex Whiteside — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:18:21 +0000

Um, they still use the magnetic field, it’s just that the magnetic sensing is done by a photolytically produced radical rather than a ferrous deposit.

By: Jez Horrox

Jez Horrox — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:12:07 +0000

Errr, do European Robins migrate? I thought they didn’t.

By: Steven

Steven — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 11:58:15 +0000

There was an article in the New Scientist last year stating that minuscule iron filaments had been found in the eyeballs of certain birds and that under specific lighting conditions (Dawn/Dusk) these filaments would allow the birds to set their compass for the day.