Fly Away Home

10 responses to “Fly Away Home”

1. 

   Vanita

   Jun 12, 2009 at 7:10 pm

   …Cult of the Big Egg…

   LOL!

   Maybe plans are in the hatching.

   Reply
2. 

   jitze

   Jun 12, 2009 at 7:26 pm

   Supposedly flying in "V" formation is more efficient for the group as a whole (there are proposals afoot to have jet liners do this on long haul routes) but this looks much more like a sine wave to me.

   Reply
3. 

   msamaclean ©

   Jun 12, 2009 at 9:09 pm

   Great luck to capture this beautiful scene.

   Reply
4. 

   Jonathan Ruff

   Jun 13, 2009 at 6:31 pm

   I’ve always assumed the lead bird/s in the middle would be organized either by strength, or rotation (every bird gets a turn sort of thing), since they take the most wind resistance among the group. I don’t know if there’s that much intelligence in the system, but I suspect there probably is given the already demonstrated efficiencies.

   Reply
5. 

   restlessthought

   Jun 14, 2009 at 4:35 am

   beautiful shot… what I’d expect to see on a page of National Geographic. This entire series of baylands abstractions is both fascinating and stunning.

   Reply
6. 

   Jader : )

   Jun 14, 2009 at 5:10 pm

   wow ! bella cattura

   Reply
7. 

   born1945

   Jun 15, 2009 at 4:10 am

   Can’t pass this one by without ID-ing the birds: American White Pelicans. These are quite large birds with a 62" wingspan; one of the largest American birds outside of the raptors.

   Reply
8. 

   jurvetson

   Jun 15, 2009 at 3:59 pm

   thanks y’all!

   born’45: I was wondering…. and I love their black wing tips.

   Jruff: reminds me of earlier ruminations on schools of fish…

   Reply
9. 

   Bill York

   Jun 17, 2009 at 4:47 am

   Some info on bird formations, including the fact that the birds do rotate the lead position.

   http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/nature/q0237.shtml

   Reply
10. 

    Gilles Monot

    Feb 20, 2010 at 9:32 pm

    Excellent. Posted on Gilmo.net photo blog

    Reply