People who study birds, fast realize that they are easily among the most captivating animals on the planet. As a matter of fact, man's interest and fascination in birds goes back thousands of years. Of courses, our main fascination with them is that, except for the thousands of flying insects, they are one of the few creatures that have achieved mastery over the air and can pretty much take off and travel to wherever they please. But, many species of birds have other fascinating traits also.
A perfect example is the albatross. If you watch the majority of birds, in order to stay afloat in the air, they have to constantly flap their wings. This, as you might expect, burns a great deal of energy.
One of the few exceptions is the albatross. The albatross is an ocean bird. It spends the majority of its time above the open ocean, constantly searching for food. The air above the oceans is a unique environment. It is an environment consisting of air currents and one in which the wind is constantly in motion. The albatross has somehow evolved and learned how to take maximum advantage of these wind currents. As a result, it can ride them expertly. The albatross is the ultimate wind surfer. It can control and change its direction effortlessly by constantly switching from one wind current to another. And, amazingly, it can surf these winds for hours. Often without a single beat of its wings. In this way, it expends no or very little energy.
A second example is the hummingbird. When you ask someone to name an animal that hibernates, the first animal that comes to the mind of most people is bears. Hardly anyone will mention the hummingbird.
The hummingbird is, by far, one of the most active birds around. All through the day, it uses up a tremendous amount of energy as it constantly searches for nectar. Even as it is resting, the heartbeat of a hummingbird has been measured at anywhere from 250 to 480 beats a minute. As a matter of fact, it consumes so much energy during the day, that at night, it basically shuts down its body. In effect, it is hibernating. It has to do this so that its body can recover and prepare itself for the next day.
For decades, researchers and birdwatchers have been fascinated in wondering how birds manage to fly thousands of miles away and magically migrate back and forth from the same areas year after year. And now, based on research, it seems that we have an answer. All signs indicate that birds somehow have the ability to sense the magnetic field of the earth. Researchers have proven this through tests. They have taken a group of birds and equipped half of them with magnetic rods that interfere with the magnetism of the earth.
The others were equipped with non-magnetic rods. The ones with the magnetic rods got lost. The birds equipped with the non-magnetic rods found their destination as usual. In a sense, it seems that many birds that their own built-in, internal GPS system that is dependent on the earths magnetic poles.
With these facts only scratching the surface of interesting bird traits, it is no wonder that some bird watchers spend decades studying their favorite creatures.
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