{"id":12655,"date":"2017-10-17T03:24:31","date_gmt":"2017-10-17T03:24:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.natgeokids.com\/?p=12655"},"modified":"2019-08-09T16:03:47","modified_gmt":"2019-08-09T16:03:47","slug":"birds-flock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.natgeokids.com\/ie\/discover\/science\/nature\/birds-flock\/","title":{"rendered":"Science with Dr Karl: How do birds flock?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.natgeokids.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/drkarlbirds1.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-12657\" src=\"http:\/\/www.natgeokids.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/drkarlbirds1.jpg\" alt=\"birds\" width=\"635\" height=\"404\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.creatureandcoagency.com\/uploads\/2017\/10\/drkarlbirds1.jpg 635w, https:\/\/cdn.creatureandcoagency.com\/uploads\/2017\/10\/drkarlbirds1-300x191.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 635px) 100vw, 635px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>We still don\u2019t fully understand how birds fly in flocks and make patterns that look so obviously organised. After all, they don\u2019t get together beforehand to agree on a series of manoeuvres once they reach altitude!<\/p>\n<p>Nevertheless, this collective behaviour emerges from the combined actions of thousands of independent creatures. How? The birds follow three simple rules:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>First, don\u2019t get too close to each other. This avoids collisions.<\/li>\n<li>Second, don\u2019t get too far away from another bird, or from the centre of the flock. But if you do drift out, head back in to the flock.<\/li>\n<li>Third, fly in a parallel direction. Head the same way as your neighbours.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.natgeokids.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/drkarlbirds.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-12656\" src=\"http:\/\/www.natgeokids.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/drkarlbirds.jpg\" alt=\"birds\" width=\"635\" height=\"404\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.creatureandcoagency.com\/uploads\/2017\/10\/drkarlbirds.jpg 635w, https:\/\/cdn.creatureandcoagency.com\/uploads\/2017\/10\/drkarlbirds-300x191.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 635px) 100vw, 635px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>These three rules will keep a flock as a single group, all heading in the same direction as one another.<\/p>\n<p>Interesting! But what happens when an eagle attacks, you ask? Well, the birds closest to the eagle will veer away, and this behaviour quickly spreads to the other birds who follow suit.<\/p>\n<p>Now that\u2019s good team work!<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Did you know that we have a FREE downloadable <a href=\"https:\/\/www.natgeokids.com\/ie\/primary-resource\/birds-of-the-british-isles-primary-resource\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Birds of the British Isles primary resource<\/a>? Perfect for teachers, homeschoolers and parents alike!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We still don\u2019t fully understand how birds fly in flocks and make patterns that look so obviously organised. After all, they don\u2019t get together beforehand to agree on a series of manoeuvres once they reach altitude! Nevertheless, this collective behaviour emerges from the combined actions of thousands of independent creatures. How? The birds follow three &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.natgeokids.com\/ie\/discover\/science\/nature\/birds-flock\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Science with Dr Karl: How do birds flock?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":12658,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[277,1922,1921,1923,845,947],"christmas-category":[],"class_list":["post-12655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nature","tag-birds","tag-dr-karl","tag-flock","tag-flocking","tag-patterns","tag-science","countries-australia","countries-ireland","countries-new-zealand","countries-south-africa","countries-united-kingdom"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Birds and how they flock with Dr Karl | National Geographic<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Dr Karl investigates how birds fly in flocks and make patterns. 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Birds how follow three simple rules.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.natgeokids.com\/ie\/discover\/science\/nature\/birds-flock\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"National Geographic Kids\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ngkids\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-10-17T03:24:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-08-09T16:03:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cdn.creatureandcoagency.com\/uploads\/2017\/10\/drkarlbirdsfeature.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"210\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gemma Chandler\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@NGKidsUK\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@NGKidsUK\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Gemma Chandler\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.natgeokids.com\\\/ie\\\/discover\\\/science\\\/nature\\\/birds-flock\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.natgeokids.com\\\/ie\\\/discover\\\/science\\\/nature\\\/birds-flock\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Gemma Chandler\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.natgeokids.com\\\/uk\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/195f18ea012555b4e0786f55a65c617e\"},\"headline\":\"Science with Dr Karl: How do birds flock?\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-10-17T03:24:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-08-09T16:03:47+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.natgeokids.com\\\/ie\\\/discover\\\/science\\\/nature\\\/birds-flock\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":202,\"commentCount\":1,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.natgeokids.com\\\/ie\\\/discover\\\/science\\\/nature\\\/birds-flock\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cdn.creatureandcoagency.com\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/drkarlbirdsfeature.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"birds\",\"dr karl\",\"flock\",\"flocking\",\"patterns\",\"science\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Nature\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.natgeokids.com\\\/ie\\\/discover\\\/science\\\/nature\\\/birds-flock\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.natgeokids.com\\\/ie\\\/discover\\\/science\\\/nature\\\/birds-flock\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.natgeokids.com\\\/ie\\\/discover\\\/science\\\/nature\\\/birds-flock\\\/\",\"name\":\"Birds and how they flock with Dr Karl | National Geographic\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.natgeokids.com\\\/uk\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.natgeokids.com\\\/ie\\\/discover\\\/science\\\/nature\\\/birds-flock\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.natgeokids.com\\\/ie\\\/discover\\\/science\\\/nature\\\/birds-flock\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cdn.creatureandcoagency.com\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/drkarlbirdsfeature.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-10-17T03:24:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-08-09T16:03:47+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.natgeokids.com\\\/uk\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/195f18ea012555b4e0786f55a65c617e\"},\"description\":\"Dr Karl investigates how birds fly in flocks and make patterns. 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