Sun Navigation in Birds?

The Orientation of Migrant and Non‐Migrant Monarch Butterflies,Danaus Plexippus (L.)

“…The sun was selected as the most probable cue in the orientation of Monarch butterflies for several reasons: (1) the Monarch is a diurnal animal and the sun is a prominent cue in its environment; (2) a positive phototaxis has been reported in a number of Lepidoptera (Brandt, 1934;Collins, 1935;Dolley, 1916;Jander, 1963;and Kelsheimer, 1935); (3) the sun has been shown to be important in the orientation of a number of animals (Hasler, 1967;Schmidt-Koenig, 1961;Taylor and Ferguson, 1969;and von Frisch, 1967), including migrating European butterflies (Baker, 1968a,b).…”

Acta : XVIII Congressus Internationalis Ornithologici, Moscow, August 16-24, 1982

“…The dominant role of the sun compass in the orientation of old, experien¬ ced pigeons has been documented by numerous clock-shift experiments (Schmidt-Koenig, 1961; for summaryjsee R.; If pigeons* internal clock is phase-shifted 6 h slow and then the birds are released under the sun at noon, their subjective "morning", they interpret the noon sun in the south to be the morning sun in the east resulting in their vanishing bearings de¬ viating approximately 90° clockwise of those of untreated controls(Pig. 3, a,b).…”

In Situ Clock Shift Reveals that the Sun Compass Contributes to Orientation in a Pelagic Seabird

“…SUMMARY Compass orientation is central to the control of animal movement from the scale of local food-caching movements around a familiar area in parids [1] and corvids [2,3] to the first autumn vector navigation of songbirds embarking on long-distance migration [4][5][6]. In the study of diurnal birds, where the homing pigeon, Columba livia, has been the main model, a time-compensated sun compass [7] is central to the two-step map-and-compass process of navigation from unfamiliar places, as well as guiding movement via a representation of familiar area landmarks [8][9][10][11][12]. However, its use by an actively navigating wild bird is yet to be shown.…”