| Publication Type: | Journal Article |
| Year of Publication: | 1980 |
| Authors: | J. Davis, M |
| Journal: | Animal Behaviour |
| Volume: | 28 |
| Issue: | 3 |
| Date Published: | 1980 |
| ISBN Number: | 0003-3472 |
| Keywords: | Calidris, Calidris alpina, Scolopacidae |
| Abstract: | Flocks of dunlin (Calidris alpina) were filmed during rapid aerial manoeuvres. Two types of manoeuvres were identified: (a) course-change movements in which the entire flock altered course, and (b) rotation movements in which individual birds rotated on their sagittal axes without necessarily changing direction. Either manoeuvre could make a flock's overall appearance shift suddenly from light to dark (or vice versa) as the birds oriented first with their light ventral, then with their dark dorsal, plumage toward the observer. Slow-motion analysis revealed that the average time required by a majority of birds in camera view to change orientations during a manoeuvre was 196 ms (sd=137 ms). [`]Self-generated synchrony' is a possible mechanism for this highly coordinated group behaviour. |
| URL: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003347280801278 |
| Short Title: | Animal Behaviour |
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