Birds are impressive navigators. For example, wandering albatrosses can fly tens of thousands of kilometres each year and come back to the same island to breed. Puffins fly back to the same island and to the same burrow on that island to nest. How do birds find their way around?
GPS (global positioning system) technology allows scientists to track the movements of all kinds of animals as they move freely across the landscape. It is now being used to study how birds navigate. In my research on bird navigation, I track homing pigeons using data loggers, which they carry on their backs (see Figure 1).
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