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Description
The behavior of groups of animals, such as flocks of birds or schools of fish, often reveals intriguing patterns. For example, the flight behavior of an individual bird in a flock depends on its position relative to other birds and the environment. Examination of a composite image of the flight paths of a small flock of black vultures flying and soaring shows that birds follow similarly curved flight paths. The position of a thermal updraft can be seen as a series of tight circles traced by more than one bird. Using this imaging technique to study a larger flock could yield interesting information about the dynamics of animal behavior.
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Technical Details:
A high-resolution digital video camera was used to capture footage of black vultures in flight. Every frame of the footage was then composited together to develop a continuous flight path of individual birds. The image is a single frame from the resulting video sequence.
Credit:
Dennis Hlynsky, Film, Animation and Video Dept., Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI
Links:
http://www.risd.edu/academics/fav/faculty/Dennis-Hlynsky/
https://vimeo.com/user491023
http://www.audubon.org/magazine/march-april-2009/explaining-bird-flocks