birds in flight

I was sitting around the other day and watching birds flying... Funny how when they fly they do not take a direct approach but rather, fly straight for awhile and then work their way to where they want to go.

My thoughts on this. All animals have attributes that we as humans do not have nor can comprehend without reflection. Birds are no different.

I wonder if birds by instinct have a general idea of where they want to go for 'distance' For close-up travels, say under 10 meters, they are spot on via instinct and vision. But for far away travels of 10+ meters (just assigned that arbitrarily)...they have more of a broadening of a range. They know the general direction and the further the distance, the more wider the span so you have this radar like effect reaching out with a wide span.

As they fly off, they do just that and as they get more closer to their target, their instinct/span tightens, so they essentially twist and turn in their approach until they are within their 10 meters or vision, and then they become spot on...thoughts on this? jim

I always assumed the turning and wandering was to choose a spot on the branch or get the direction they wanted to look correct.

I have no idea why they fly like they do. I bet its tough to nail that little branch at those speeds.

The most amazing flight I've seen was a huge owl fly through thick short pines while deer hunting. “Long ago no more”

I was sitting in a tree stand, about 12 feet high when an owl came by so fast and so close it startled me.

It continued right through the pine trees, limbs everywhere and didn't hit a one. It was gone in a second, so quite so fast and really unbelievable such a big bird could gracefully rocket through all that mess. At least I think it was an owl, haven't seen anything else with a wingspan like it, plus it was almost dark.