Fly Fly Fly... what's all the flap about?

LoopyByteloose

Yahoo is reporting new breakthroughs in·understand the flight of bees, flies, and even birds today.

It is quite a lot of info and all wonderful.· Apparently the bees and bugs don't directly oscillate via the brain [noparse][[/noparse]justifies BEAM technology], but have muscle trigger system that oscillated 230 cycles per second.· I suppose the 'brain' only intefers for navigation and may only control on/off and secondary muscles for directional control.

I watch birds every week and am amazed that their collision avoidance in such a free· and somewhat unpredicatable environment.· Swallows can actually dodge through handrails while going in a full out swoop.

We have bats too and they really have to work to keep going, but accurately target bugs for food and pretty well avoid collision [noparse][[/noparse]a lot more near misses].

▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
"When all think alike, no one is thinking very much.' - Walter Lippmann (1889-1974)

······································································ Warm regards,····· G. Herzog [noparse][[/noparse]·黃鶴 ]·in Taiwan

Kevin Wood

I was sitting in the back yard reading a newspaper one evening this summer when I caught a movement out of the corner of my eye. I lowered the newspaper, and there was a hummingbird staring me in the face about 2.5 feet away. We just stared at each other for @ 10-15 seconds, and then it darted off.

It was visiting a feeder, so the following day or so I sat out in the same chair, very still and quiet, and waited to see if it would come by, which it did. This time it buzzed around fairly close, for about 25-30 seconds, but paid less attention to me. Overall, it was an awesome experience.

knightofoldcode

I live right next to a highschool band field, and inside the field is a row of trees around the outside perimeter. About 20 years the highschool transplanted a family of Mississipi kites into the field. They are a carnivore, and like to eat mice. They were actually a method to get rid of the mice in the high school. Which, they were successful. Now, along my entire block, if someone is walking away or near the field, or even into their house with a hat on, they will go from a full swoop all the way down, full speed, and swipe the hats of people. They never hurt the people in any way, but we don't wear hats anymore. [noparse];)[/noparse] They particularly hate red. Anytime we have umbrellas we have to be careful to make sure it's not exposed for too long, or they will go after those.

It's an interesting experience.

I like to walk my dog into a park near our house, probably 1 mile away from my house and the kites, we go to the park, and most of the time I'll sit on a bench while my dog roams free, for about 30 min. The park is filled with large tall trees. Oak, to be precise. Some of the trees are close enough that at the base they appear to be the same tree. Twards the tops of the trees they are less than 2-4 feet, most of them. The park's tree's were planted by someone who put many many seeds in one spot, expecting them not to grow, but they all did. The park is interesting, especially since I live in a desert. Owls like this park, and I've watched the owls flying through these trees at full swoop, and never once hit a tree, until about 6 days ago. It was a young owl, and it smacked right into one of the trees, fell to the ground, and about 2 minutes later the mother owl flew down and rescued the owl, I'm sure it was okay, but it still made me laugh for the next week. I just wish I had it on tape. [noparse]:)[/noparse]


Knight.

▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
This message transmitted with 100% recycled electrons.
-=-=-=-=-=-
Gravity doesn't exist. The Earth sucks.
-=-=-=-=-=-
Make a man a fire, and he will be warm for the night.
Light the man on fire, and he will be warm for the rest of his life.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

LoopyByteloose

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/01/060111082100.htm

My apologies for not posting the web site and article reference.
When I went back to Yahoo it was gone.
West Coast [noparse][[/noparse]of America] hummingbirds have been known to fly 5000 miles in one year in their quest for flower nectar.· They winter over in Central America and move north as far as Canada in the summer.

One of the things that never ceases to amaze me is how a mosquito can make enough noise to wake me out of a sound sleep. Incidentally, they go after your ears because they target the heat via IR that your warm blood emits.· You can destract them by having other sources of warmth in the room.

▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
"When all think alike, no one is thinking very much.' - Walter Lippmann (1889-1974)

······································································ Warm regards,····· G. Herzog [noparse][[/noparse]·黃鶴 ]·in Taiwan

Post Edited (Kramer) : 1/12/2006 3:22:49 PM GMT

steve_b

In northern Canada, as dusk approaches....you start hearing a hum from the woods. Its quite eery.
It's a good time to get the bug juice on though...apparently its the sound from all the mosquito's flappy their wings to warm up and get ready for their midnight romp!

▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
·

Steve

"Inside each and every one of us is our one, true authentic swing. Something we was born with. Something that's ours and ours alone. Something that can't be learned... something that's got to be remembered."

LoopyByteloose

I strongly suspect that mosquitos and all other insects are generally blinded by the heat of mid-day.

Birds feed in the dawn and dusk hours for the obvious reason that there are more insects to feed upon. There seems to be a whole separate world and biosphere that depends primarily on IR vision.

Garlic really drives them away

▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
"When all think alike, no one is thinking very much.' - Walter Lippmann (1889-1974)

······································································ Warm regards,····· G. Herzog [noparse][[/noparse]·黃鶴 ]·in Taiwan