It is fun to read Friamers’ hypotheses on formation flight in birds. They are entirely unprejudiced by any knowledge of the topic . Although knowledge of a subject is counter-friamistic and takes hard work, I modestly suggest that it is helpful to understand some of the aerodynamic principles behind formation flight before hyperventilating too much. The fact is that the Biot-Savart Law teaches that the asymptotic state is really quite close, as characteristic of a semi- infinite dipole field. Consequently, aerodynamics shows that for favorable interaction flyers can utilize uneven Vees, branched Vees, small Vees, big Vees, broken Vees – and migrating birds use them all. Or look as though they do! The tip station is theoretically the most unfavorable, but better than being solo. I have published seven papers on avian flight, and read and reviewed a good few more, so don’t know very much, but I would not presume any hypothesis on really why they do it, and who does what to whom. That’s for the birds! Peter Lissaman, Da Vinci Ventures Expertise is not knowing everything, but knowing what to look for. 1454 Miracerros Loop South, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87505,USA tel:(505)983-7728
============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
