Friday, January 28, 2011 - Bosque Birdwatchers RV Park, San Antonio NM
< previous day | archives | next day >
Mallards, Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, San Antonio NM, January 24, 2011
Why do ducks swim in a row?
Is it really as simple as follow-the-leader being the easiest way to move a group through the reeds as suggested by Yahoo!7 Answers? Sounds good for followers but what's in it for the leader?
Movement in a column is always the fastest way to move when there are obstacles, and there are always obstacles on the ground. If the group has to swim through some reeds, or go around an angry heron, it's easiest to just follow the leader. Swimming in a spread out formation requires teamwork which most animals aren't willing to commit to.
In addition, moving behind the leader allows you to draft, reducing the amount of drag you face, but this is only relevant if you are pretty close.
Source:Yahoo!7 Answers
A little about Mallards
The Mallard is a rare example of both Allen's Rule and Bergmann's Rule in birds. Bergmann's Rule, which states that polar forms tend to be larger than related ones from warmer climates, has numerous examples in birds. Allen's Rule says that appendages like ears tend to be smaller in polar forms to minimize heat loss, and larger in tropical and desert equivalents to facilitate heat diffusion, and that the polar taxa are stockier overall. Examples of this rule in birds are rare, as they lack external ears. However, the bill of ducks is very well supplied with blood vessels and is vulnerable to cold.
Source: Wikipedia
Night camp
Site 10 - Bosque Bird Watcher's RV Park, San Antonio NM
- This is a basic, small Mom & Pop RV Park with full hookups.
- Verizon cell phone and Broadband service are available here with a strong signal.
- Locate Bosque Bird Watcher's RV Park on my Night Camps map
- Click for Google street view
- Check the weather in San Antonio NM
Life is to be Lived, Not Controlled
No indeed, the world is just as concrete, ornery, vile and sublimely wonderful as before, only now I better understand my relation to it and it to me. I lived a public life and attempted to function under the assumption that the world was solid and all the relationships therein. Now I know men are different and that all life is divided and that only in division is there true health. Hence again I have stayed in my hole, because up above there's an increasing passion to make men conform to a pattern.
.... Whence all this passion toward conformity anyway? - diversity is the word. Let man keep his many parts and you'll have no tyrant states. Why, if they follow this conformity business they'll end up by forcing me, an invisible man, to become white, which is not a color but the lack of one. Must I strive toward colorlessness? But seriously, and without snobbery, think of what the world would lose if that were to happen. .....Life is to be lived, not controlled; and humanity is won by continuing to play in the face of certain defeat.