• Krelefante@lemmy.world
      19·
      1 year ago

      Not a bird scientist or a bird lawyer, but I can tell you that they know which direction to fly because they have a small amount of magnetite in their brains which they can use as a compass. They also appear to use landmarks like rivers, coastlines, and mountain ranges for more refined directions. As far as how they decide who leads, they just take turns. The lead bird will help break the air for the birds behind them making it easier for them to fly. When the lead bird tires, another will simply switch places with it until the cycle repeats and they get where they want to go.

      • Supervivens@lemmy.world
        3·
        1 year ago

        So basically it’s kinda like driving in a road trip where everyone knows where they’re going but take turns being the one to drive

  • Chariotwheel@kbin.social
    8·
    1 year ago

    I spend about an hour once with a group of friends walking nowhere. I don’t even know how it started, but someone started to move and the rest followed, and after someone finally asked where we’re actually going, nobody knew, because somehow everyone was following someone else and we were just generally walking forwards for an hour.