Learning from a Bald Ibis?!
Poking around the internet the other day, I came across a fascinating story about the Bald Ibis. (a species I’d never heard of)
Background:
Once upon a time this bird had a powerful status in ancient Egypt as the god Thoth. He/it was thought to carry the soul into the afterlife.
Now one of the most threatened bird species in all of Europe, North Africa, and Middle East and it is considered critically endangered.
It vanished in Europe in the 17th century.
I guess you don’t have to be beautiful or even cute to be hunted, poisoned, and deprived of your foraging habitat.
And the Bald Ibis is neither beautiful nor cute! It has spiked feathers on its head, a featherless face, and a long curved beak.
Current Story:
These endangered birds have been given another chance by an Austrian conservation agency that raised some young Ibises and taught them how to follow a micro-light aircraft.
Who knew that you could train birds to follow planes?
The aircraft has led them along their once-regular migration routes in order to re-establish the flock in its natural homeland.
The experiment also gave scientists a unique opportunity to verify date to the age-old question: Why do some birds fly in a V-formation?
The scientists found that the formation allowed the birds to fly efficiently because the lead bird did most of the work breaking the air in the front of the flock while the birds that followed could draft along behind the birds in front of them. Every once in a while, the bird at the front of the V floats to the back and someone else takes its place.
But there’s one more thing the scientists learned from the Ibises: it isn’t just about staying in the right place. It’s also about flapping at the right time.
The birds somehow know the most efficient timing in which to flap their wings to take advantage of the best drafting available to them. An Ibis following behind another will trace the same wing path that the bird in front of them took.
It’s very much like walking in someone else’s footprints in deep snow:
it’s easier and you save a lot of energy!
So what can we learn?
Henry Ford said it all, so very succinctly,
Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.
And, in honor of this being my 100th weekly post (yes, really!), I want to thank each of you
- for coming here,
- coming back,
- and reading, commenting, and sharing!
I hope you enjoy the tidbits here as “wisdom enough” to continue as part of my online family! I wouldn’t be able to do this in a vacuum and I love knowing that you are all out there thinking and sharing your thought-provoking comments with us.
Do you have any suggestions for topics or ideas you’d like me to put out for your comments as we move on exploring ideas ?
9 Comments
Pat you always have such insightful topics. Even though I don’t always comment I do read them. Thank you for doing this. It’s always very helpful & thought provoking!
Linda, I love hearing that folks read the posts! And I appreciate your comments. Thank you!
It’s an odd thing, Pat. You’ve been in my life for just shy of 67 years and you still surprise me with your ideas, your insights, your musings. These blog posts have been really fun for me to learn more about you, your thought processes and about myself. You do present challenges….
Fay, yes we’ve had a lot of years as sisters and friends too! It’s fun to share my idiosyncratic ideas and thoughts!
Wow, Pat, I wouldn’t have believed you were old enough to be in anyone’s life for 67 years. Shows how much I know! As for what we as humans can learn at this stage in our evolution which sometimes feels like devolution is this: We need to remember that all life on earth (and earth itself) is part of the one life that some people call god. Not only are we all kin but we have much to learn (or relearn) from nature if we would just get our egos out of the way. So today I will give my dog a big hug and take him out in nature so he can practice being a dog. He does it so well!
Mary Kay, There’s a great book called by Alan Cohen called “Are You as Happy as Your Dog?” It reminds us of all those wonderful traits we would all like to exhibit.
Maybe I can share some “wisdom” but ideas used are yours and great ones. ” A bald head is beautiful, put hair on the ugly ones ” – this came my way somewhere but did share it at one of my class reunions. I had just won the “most bald” award. So I shared the “wisdom” with my old classmates and received a nice ovation. Keeping “wisdom” ideas in your head comes in handy often.
This story reminds me of an enchanting movie called Fly Away Home with Jeff Daniels and Anna Paquin. It’s a feel good movie for sure 🙂
Faith, I’ll have to check that movie out as I’m not familiar with it. Our library here has it!