FreeLists / va-richmond-general / [va-richmond-general] Bird migration article

["Ries, IE" <featherchaser@xxxxxxxxxx>]

A really great and timely article today:

 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20061004/sc_space/migratingbirdstakehundredsof
dailypowernaps;_ylt=An24VZNe4zHYOjHLz8Jvs_FxieAA;_ylu=X3oDMTA4NmhocGZ1BHNlYw
MxNzAw

 

 

 

 

Migrating Birds Take Hundreds of Daily Powernaps 

 
<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/space/sc_space/byline/migratingbirdstakehu
ndredsofdailypowernaps/20500454/SIG=11hr1eali/*http:/www.livescience.com/blo
gs/author/kerthan> Ker Than
LiveScience Staff Writer
 
<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/space/sc_space/byline/migratingbirdstakehu
ndredsofdailypowernaps/20500454/SIG=10sog4vj6/*http:/www.livescience.com>
LiveScience.com Wed Oct 4, 10:45 AM ET 

To help make up for sleep lost during marathon night flights, migratory
birds take hundreds of powernaps during the day, each lasting only a few
seconds, a new study suggests.


 

Every autumn, Swainson's thrushes fly up to 3,000 miles from their breeding
grounds in northern Canada and Alaska to winter in Central and South
America. Come spring, the
<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/space/sc_space/storytext/migratingbirdstak
ehundredsofdailypowernaps/20500454/SIG=113vus081/*http:/www.livescience.com/
birds/> birds make the long trek back.

The
<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/space/sc_space/storytext/migratingbirdstak
ehundredsofdailypowernaps/20500454/SIG=11u56uh6s/*http:/www.livescience.com/
animalworld/041209_birds_fly.html> birds fly mostly at night and often for
long hours at a time, leaving little time for
<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/space/sc_space/storytext/migratingbirdstak
ehundredsofdailypowernaps/20500454/SIG=127c1sb4q/*http:/www.livescience.com/
humanbiology/060323_sleep_deprivation.html> sleep.

To find out how the birds get through these tiresome periods, scientists
observed caged thrushes for an entire year, recording when and how long they
slept. They found that during
<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/space/sc_space/storytext/migratingbirdstak
ehundredsofdailypowernaps/20500454/SIG=161l4po42/*http:/www.livescience.com/
php/multimedia/imagedisplay/img_display.php?pic=051027_earth_fall_02.jpg&cap
=Earth+during+fall+as+seen+in+a+composite+of+satellite+images.+Credit%3A+NAS
A/GSFC/MODIS> autumn and
<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/space/sc_space/storytext/migratingbirdstak
ehundredsofdailypowernaps/20500454/SIG=165peq3i3/*http:/www.livescience.com/
php/multimedia/imagedisplay/img_display.php?pic=051027_earth_spring_02.jpg&c
ap=Earth+during+spring+as+seen+in+a+composite+of+satellite+images.+Credit%3A
+NASA/GSFC/MODIS> spring, when the birds are normally migrating, they
reverse their typical sleep patterns, staying awake at night and resting
during day.

But instead of sleeping for long stretches at a time, the birds took several
naps a day, each one lasting only 9 seconds on average.

The thrushes also mixed up their shut-eye sessions with two other forms of
sleep. In one, called unilateral eye closure, or UEC, the birds rested one
eye and one half of their
<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/space/sc_space/storytext/migratingbirdstak
ehundredsofdailypowernaps/20500454/SIG=120rfpvun/*http:/www.livescience.com/
animalworld/041103_brain_usage.html> brains while their other eye and brain
hemisphere remained open and active, keeping them semi-alert to danger. 

The birds also occasionally slipped into another state, one that any college
student who has ever been stuck in a boring lecture can relate to. Called
<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/space/sc_space/storytext/migratingbirdstak
ehundredsofdailypowernaps/20500454/SIG=11uo6qq65/*http:/www.livescience.com/
humanbiology/ap_050329_sleep.html> drowsiness, this state is characterized
by a partial shutting of both eyes that still allows for some visual
processing.

Drowsiness "is probably a state that, to some extent, grants the benefits of
sleep while allowing for some of the benefits of wakefulness," said study
team member Thomas Fuchs of Bowling Green State University in Ohio.

By alternating between naps, UEC and drowsiness, the thrushes and other
<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/space/sc_space/storytext/migratingbirdstak
ehundredsofdailypowernaps/20500454/SIG=122275gtp/*http:/www.livescience.com/
environment/060503_warming_birds.html> migratory birds can reap some of the
benefits of sleep while only marginally increasing their risks of being
eaten, the scientists figure. 

"In terms of quality, drowsiness and unihemispheric sleep may be less
beneficial than [normal] sleep, but it may also be safer," Fuchs told
LiveScience.

The study is detailed this month in the journal Animal Behavior.

Some scientists speculate that some birds might even be able to catch up on
some forms of sleep while in flight, but this idea has yet to be fully
tested. 

The need for sleep is nearly universal in the animal kingdom, but scientists
<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/space/sc_space/storytext/migratingbirdstak
ehundredsofdailypowernaps/20500454/SIG=127f1j7km/*http:/www.livescience.com/
humanbiology/top10_mysteriesofthemind.html> still aren't sure what purpose
it serves. Some studies suggest we need sleep to organize the
<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/space/sc_space/storytext/migratingbirdstak
ehundredsofdailypowernaps/20500454/SIG=121lnt2q1/*http:/www.livescience.com/
humanbiology/060921_flies_sleep.html> memories we amass during the day and
to give our bodies time to rest, but both theories remain unproven. 

"I think what's interesting about our findings is that even animals that
should be highly adapted to sleep loss cannot go on indefinitely," Fuchs
said. "That a need for sleep cannot be eliminated even in these species
underscores the importance of sleep for many, if not all, animals."

*
<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/space/sc_space/storytext/migratingbirdstak
ehundredsofdailypowernaps/20500454/SIG=12cua0h0r/*http:/www.livescience.com/
php/video/player.php?video_id=pur5271_birdradar> Video: Amazing Bird Radar 
*
<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/space/sc_space/storytext/migratingbirdstak
ehundredsofdailypowernaps/20500454/SIG=11u56uh6s/*http:/www.livescience.com/
animalworld/041209_birds_fly.html> Secret of Bird Flight Revealed 
*
<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/space/sc_space/storytext/migratingbirdstak
ehundredsofdailypowernaps/20500454/SIG=122275gtp/*http:/www.livescience.com/
environment/060503_warming_birds.html> Earlier Spring Starves Migratory
Birds 
*
<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/space/sc_space/storytext/migratingbirdstak
ehundredsofdailypowernaps/20500454/SIG=127c1sb4q/*http:/www.livescience.com/
humanbiology/060323_sleep_deprivation.html> Sleep Deprivation: The Great
American Myth 
*
<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/space/sc_space/storytext/migratingbirdstak
ehundredsofdailypowernaps/20500454/SIG=122d1ohob/*http:/www.livescience.com/
animalworld/050629_sleepless_sea.html> Newborn Mammals Don't Sleep for a
Month 
*
<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/space/sc_space/storytext/migratingbirdstak
ehundredsofdailypowernaps/20500454/SIG=127f1j7km/*http:/www.livescience.com/
humanbiology/top10_mysteriesofthemind.html> The Top 10 Mysteries of the Mind

*
<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/space/sc_space/storytext/migratingbirdstak
ehundredsofdailypowernaps/20500454/SIG=12ar5aevo/*http:/www.livescience.com/
php/video/player.php?video_id=birds_ext_quest> Video: Extraordinary Birds 

*       Original Story:
<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/space/sc_space/storytext/migratingbirdstak
ehundredsofdailypowernaps/20500454/SIG=122nfngab/*http:/www.livescience.com/
animalworld/061003_thrushes_naps.html> Migrating Birds Take Hundreds of
Daily Powernaps

 

 

Enjoy!

 

~IER in Southside