Ever wonder why
birds always fly in "V" formation? When I was a
kid I thought this is only done by ducks migrating for a myriad of reason because of those
stupid saturday morning cartoons. But it came out that the same thing is also done by almost all
flying birds with their
flock.
So why is it then?
A research has been conducted by several scientists and they found out that when birds flying in a "V" formation flap their wings, it creates some sort of uplift for the bird immediately following. In this formation, the whole flock adds at least 70-80% greater flying range than each bird flying solo.
* In cases where a bird falls out of formation, it will really (and suddenly) feel the drag and resistance of trying to fly alone. Most animals can't think but rather use their instinct thus compelling them to go back to the formation to take advantage of the power of the flock.
* When the leading bird gets tired, it rotates back the formation and another bird will take over.
* Birds honk, buzz, whir, etc. from behind to encourage the birds in front to keep their speed.
* When a bird gets sick, tired, shot (or any other million reasons) and falls out of the formation, a bird or two will disband from the flock to follow the injured bird to help/assist/protect him. They will stay with this bird until it is too weak to fly or painfully dead. Only then they will launch out with a new formation to catch up with their abandoned flock.
That's all.