Starlings Establish New Migration in a Single Year

Despite decades of research, no one knows how birds navigate to destinations hundreds of miles away. This excerpt from a longer talk is part of an online course on potential breakthroughs in the sciences. Course materials include scientific papers and relevant chapters from Rupert’s books and . Find out more at:
www.sheldrake.org/online-courses
Reference
____
Perdeck, Albert C.
Two Types of Orientation in Migrating Starlings, Sturnus yulgaris L., and Chaffinches, Fringilla coelebs L., as Revealed by Displacement Experiments. Ardea, 55(1-2) : 1-2.
About
____
Dr Rupert Sheldrake, PhD, is a biologist and author best known for his hypothesis of morphic resonance. At Cambridge University he worked in developmental biology as a Fellow of Clare College. He was Principal Plant Physiologist at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics and From 2005 to 2010 was Director of the Perrott-Warrick project, Cambridge.

[@blankplanet]

My favorite person in the scientific world, a true pearl among charlatans

[@patriciachadwick5658]

Sorry to be so late to the party. 20yrs ago we moved to the outskirts of Bristol opposite a church where starlings would gather in their thousands to migrate. We were sad to see that the number declined over the years to nothing. We were quite distressed, assuming the starlings had died off because of overuse of insecticides. Thank you for giving us the reassurance that they still thrive in the UK.

[@peterjeremymckenzie8444]

They went to the seaside in Aberystwyth to party under the pier.😀

[@OrigenisAdamantios]

We truly love Drs. Sheldrake and Tzamalikos !!!

[@flow963]

Thank you Dr. Sheldrake. You are a profoundly creative thinker. A sublime embodiment of exactly where science should be guiding us at this critical moment. And your contribution to humanity’s required evolutionary response in this critical moment - the moment of your lifetime will be long remembered and deeply appreciated should we manage as a species to create a way out & beyond our current dire predicament.

[@mehcol]

When I was a kid in the 60s, there were masses of butterflies and bumble bees about - alas what we saw, no longer is shown.

[@1HorseOpenSlay]

I have starlings that like to hang out in my house. It only took them a few minutes to understand that some windows are solid and some windows are open. Now even if a window is open just a crack they come in, sit on the back of my couch and hop around the floor or fly around the house. I think the first one told all it's friends because now there are half a dozen that come in every day.

[@adagietto2523]

Really interesting experiment!

[@poleag]

Would the morphic resonance hypothesis predict, for example, that a Korean baby adopted by American parents would be able to learn to speak Korean (as an adult) much faster and better than learners without Korean heritage? And if so, do we see anecdotal/observational evidence of this? Do we see people inheriting specific knowledge from their ancestors? "The fields organizing the activity of the nervous system are likewise inherited through morphic resonance, conveying a collective, instinctive memory. Each individual both draws upon and contributes to the collective memory of the species. This means that new patterns of behaviour can spread more rapidly than would otherwise be possible. For example, if rats of a particular breed learn a new trick in Harvard, then rats of that breed should be able to learn the same trick faster all over the world, say in Edinburgh and Melbourne."

[@Anna_Fortunka]

Hello, I'm Polish. For many years during my youth and childhood, it used to be sort of my 'party trick' that I was able to understand a lot of Italian. I can't speak it obviously, I've never learned it. But I can pick up *a lot*. It was usually explained away by the fact that I watched a lot of Italian dubbed tv as a little kid. Perhaps. But I later found out, my great grandmother was at least half Italian (or perhaps 100% Italian).

[@poleag]

@@Anna_Fortunka Very interesting!

[@yp77738yp77739]

They must be reacting to stimuli of some kind as opposed to solely some form of genetic or biochemical memory. Possibly multiple inputs. With the constantly deviating climate over the eons, this type of variable response is exactly that which natural selection would favour.

[@ant1010]

Intrinsic behaviour/instinct cannot be explained with traditional evolutionary explanations

[@dodadodo25]

The juveniles were just clued up enough to spend the winter in the sun and not cold wet Britain

[@MichaelSmith420fu]

I often think about how small, efficient, and how the overall nature of birds is and like how their nervous systems are so tuned to a limited specific set of needs;are so simple. Then I consider the rest of the biosphere and how it's all interconnected and how we fit into all of it and are we are the nerves ends of it all. Cuz like.. so my nervous system works just as fast and I think a lot of people's do as well that we don't see it. When we listen to another talk our minds are actually kind of registering what they say on a super-fast/superficial level. But then the ego has to process it and figure out what it represents. However, on a purely vocal level we kinda like instantly replay what the other persons saying in our heads as they are saying it... ...yeah?

[@chrisjudd-uc7sh]

Where I would agree with Rupert is that there is some form of God. The sheer complexity and known physical laws point any sane man in this direction. However God manifests our reality through our physical realm and the mistake Rupert made as a younger man just as most of us have done was letting his exuberance get the better of him. Science eventually arrives at God, in whatever form God exists. It is self evident to the more philosophical thinker that our scientific explanations are still crude models that change according to the times. We are now re-entering a more spiritually tolerant era which as Einstein and many other geniuses recognised was the interconnection of all. As regards the Starlings migration whether it is morphic fields, epigenetics or quantum entanglement it is still all belonging to God and science and philosophy are crucial to our investigations.

[@shaylasomerville4733]

I love you professor ❤❤ i love all your work and studies ❤❤

[@laurah2831]

Sounds like it evidence for early life experience causing us to repeat the same behaviour

[@wehsee912]

🌚☄️❤️💫

[@whussthadeal3798]

Oh you may call it Intelligence

[@mtnpfi]

Then you would not be Dr Sheldrake and be satisfied with much less. : )

[@whussthadeal3798]

@@mtnpfi less is more

[@reallife7375]

They just talk to each other!! Seen it happening!! It's not rocket science!!

[@jimmyjasi-]

Oh. Come on Dr Sheldrake... "It's not genetic"... What the heck it's supposed to mean?! It's now widely accepted that birds use cryptochrome molecules for harnessing Quantum Entanglement for magnetic navigation. But of course it's Genetic! How else on Earth any molecule in biology gets synthesized?! And for some reason we humans also have cryptochrome in our brains but no human being even lamenting psychics claim to have sense of magnetoreception! Birds "spooky navigation" is no longer parapsychology area it's confirmed by scientific community long ago Jim Al-Khalily wrote wonderful pop-sci book on it eight years ago and he's anything but Dean Radins fan. But please don't put such titles and conclusions because it becomes misleading public and sounds for good reason like a pseudoscientific gibberish. Otherwise I'm wishing you well

[@lawshorizon]

Your explanation is like looking at the hands of a clock and their movement is the full explanation for their operation. What are the magic pinions and the wizard wheels that allow for it? -- that's what I wonder.

[@mtnpfi]

Just because something is widely accepted doesn't mean that it is the only solution or the solution after all. Just saying.