- Sylvia borin
Identification
Photographed in England.
The garden warbler weighs less than an ounce, yet it possesses extraordinary celestial instincts. Each fall, this tiny bird sets out in the night, to begin its incredible journey. The garden warbler does not have the security of a flock, but travels alone. It makes it way over Germany, France and Spain, then turns southward to Africa, its final destination. Covering one hundred miles or more in one night, the warbler flies without error, guided toward its goal by keen navigational instincts. Even when blown out of its way by powerful side-winds, it is able to set itself back on course as soon as the weather has calmed. After wintering in Africa, the bird retraces is path back north, to its former nesting place in a European thicket. There it raises another generation of little warblers which will grow up, untaught, but completely able to fly over the same route their parents took, guided by the stars.
(Info from "Celestial Navigation of Birds" -E.G.F. Saver, Scientific American, Aug. 1958)
Originally posted by Jacamar'ssister
Bird Song
<flashmp3>Sylvia borin (song).mp3</flashmp3>
Listen in an external program
