Chorus Line in the Sky
Learn how Dunlins avoid in-flight collisions.
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What is that cloud low in the autumn sky, shape-shifting as you watch from a beach or mudflat, suddenly flashing from dark to light? It's a cloud of small sandpipers called . When threatened by a falcon, Dunlins take to the air, flying so close together that it's hard for a predator to capture one. The Dunlins' synchronous twisting-and-turning is a marvel of aerial acrobatics, with the birds alternately flashing brown backs and white bellies. The speed of change is breathtaking, with hundreds of birds turning simultaneously.
A researcher, curious about the lack of midair collisions – and speculating about extrasensory communication – filmed a few of these flocks. He found that a bird at one edge turns toward the middle, and a wave sweeps across the entire flock in less than a second. Like a member of a chorus-line, each bird sees the movement beginning to happen and makes the appropriate response.
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Dunlin audio provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Recorded by G.A. Keller. Producer: John Kessler Executive Producer: Chris Peterson
© 2014 Tune In to Nature.org October 2014 Narrator: Mary McCann