"It's Not The Plane, It's The Pilot" - Sparrows Cope With Closed Loft Doors

6 months ago
18

Technically that's one of the same here but wow, what excellent piloting skills. That's obvious from normal flight patterns but this is on the level of TRULY "threading the needle". Impressive. PS: are doors DELIBERATELY designed that way on farms for just such purpose?

Overthinking Notes:
1. Landowner kept top half of lower doors open to encourage nesting despite the droppings (cardboard shields are easy). Maintained that the last 2 years and a couple birds accessed the loft by flying in below, then up through the inside. Large gap along entire upper floor along one edge I assume was used for hay moving. They had no problem and believed they would figure it out vs simply a total block of their nest. I am not an ani-muuul!

2. These may be the offspring, however, who have never done that loop. Last year chains were used to hold the doors closed and had larger gaps. Even so, I bet they'd figure it out.

3. What kind of G-forces do they sustain? Imagine that tiny brain controlling a fighter aircraft! When you consider they're zooming around nailing flying insects by their bodyweight-plus DAILY, then imagine the hunt / identify / intercept mechanics going on with likely split-second timing on hard-to-see tangos a fraction of their size that are ALSO zipping around with UFO maneuvers. Just saying.

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