[TowerTalk] Bird intelligence

[David Gilbert]

My guess is that if you asked K8RI to walk and one of your barn swallows 
to fly to a neutral spot previously unknown to either of them, K8RI 
would get there first ...

Dave  AB7E



Bob Bogash wrote:
> My barn swallows travel from NW Washington to Argentina and return, 8400 
> nautical miles minimum each way, returning to the same hidden nest that 
> ONLY THEY could know the location of.  And, they do it on-time, year 
> after year, with an accuracy that far surpasses the smartest smart bomb 
> or navigation system.
>
> The term is CEP - circular error probability.  The bird's CEP is 
> approximately  1 cm at near 100% probability.  For comparison, a Trident 
> II warhead has a CEP of 90 meters; thus, each warhead will impact within 
> 90 meters of the target point with a probability of 50%.
>
> For LGM-30 Minuteman III warheads, the CEP is 275 meters for the three 
> 170 kt W62 warheads contained in General Electric (GE) Mk 12 RVs, and 
> 220 meters for the three 335 kt W78 warheads contained in GE Mk 12A RVs.
>
> Incidentally, the Trident range, at about 4000 nm, while impressive, is 
> less than half that of the birds.
>
> The Gulf of Mexico, the Mediterranean Sea, and even the open Atlantic
> from the Maritime Provinces of Canada to the northern coast of South America
> are regularly crossed by many songbirds.  These large open bodies of 
> water are
> not just a physical challenge, but a navigational triumph of immense 
> proportions, with virtually no navigation landmarks available for 
> guidance, and terrible difficulties due to wind and weather.  These are 
> the the little ones that are "at the shallow end of the gene pool" 
> intelligence wise according to K8RI.
>
> I wonder whether his navigational skills are comparable?
>
> Bob
> W7DDD
>
>
>
>
>
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-- 
Subvert the dominant paradigm.