A flock is a group of birds that fly together and adopt similar behaviors. In some countries, the term flock is used as a synonym for flock. For example: “A flock of seagulls came to the beach and broke the calm with their squawks”, “Look, Mom! A flock is flying right above us!” , “The hunter took advantage of the presence of the flock and began to shoot. “
Birds can flock for a variety of reasons. When these animals associate, they do so for a specific purpose and to obtain certain benefits, although they also face various problems.
Flocks make it possible for birds to improve their protection against predators since, with a large number of individuals watching, it is easier for them to detect the presence of danger. It should be noted that there are flocks that can host tens of thousands of birds.
A flock, however, affects the efficiency in the search for food and creates problems for those birds that are subordinate compared to other dominant ones. That is why certain animals unite in flocks made up of specimens of different species, something that helps them improve their safety without increasing competition for the same resources.
In a symbolic sense, the notion of a flock can be used to refer to a boisterous group of people: “I have no patience to endure for more than two hours a flock of children shouting around me”, “Calm down! They look like a flock ”, “We were not a team, but rather a flock out of control”.
The migration of birds
Migration is a phenomenon that has attracted human attention since time immemorial. So much so that approximately five millennia ago the inhabitants of the island of Cyprus (in the Mediterranean) associated the seasonal displacement of some birds that traveled in flocks with the ideal moment to start planting their food.
Aristotle, a renowned philosopher, scientist and logician who lived between 384 and 322 BC. C. in Ancient Greece, he dedicated himself to studying the migration of birds through the observation of this behavior in more than one species.
On the other hand, the Bible speaks of the migration of hawks from northern Europe to the African continent, passing through the Sinai Peninsula and the Red Sea, and it is described as an amazing phenomenon of nature that amazed everyone the one who contemplated it, since it was the symbol of the divine ways.
The fact that so many hundreds and thousands of birds gather in a flock and then embark on such extensive voyages, flying over land and sea, has been an object of fascination for our species for centuries and continues to be so today, especially to respond some of the questions that arise from his observation, such as:
* how they manage to harness their energy to travel such great distances without dying of fatigue;
* if their migration patterns have evolved throughout history;
* how they are located to get to their destination correctly;
* what problems a flock faces during migration.
It is worth mentioning that half of the known species of birds on the planet practice migration. Some migrate a few hundred meters, but others reach impressive distances that carry them from one point to another on Earth. The migration route of a flock responds to the characteristics and needs of its species, and for this reason a great diversity is appreciated.
It is not always easy for researchers to define the migratory pattern of a species or understand the design of its air routes. The most understandable case from our point of view is that of migration from north to south and vice versa, since it is carried out to seek the opposite season of the year and facilitate obtaining food.
