Ecology. Bird navigation--computing orthodromes.

• Published in: Science
• Main Author: Wehner, R
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 2001
• Subjects: Institute of Zoology (former); 570 Life sciences; biology; 590 Animals (Zoology); Arctic
• Online Access: https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/650/; https://www.zora.uzh.ch/650; https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1058147

There are many theories about how migrating birds navigate as Wehner explains in his Perspective. He discusses new findings obtained with radar on a Canadian coast guard icebreaker vessel, which show that Arctic seabirds are able to faithfully follow the great-circle (orthodrome) routes of far northern latitudes most probably by steering with their sun compass while keeping their internal clock out of phase with local time (Alerstam et al.).