Did you know that the scientific term for the V-formation that birds fly in is called echelons? And although the majority of the time you look I the sky and see the birds migrating in a V structure, they also fly in a J like shape as well too. Actually, studies of several species have shown that a J formation is actually more common than a V formation. Why is this?

There are more than the standard reasons why this occurs, but a few reasons why are: to conserve energy-fluid dynamics, and the shapes help with communication between the birds- helping with their coordination.

For birds that are migrating a long distance without landing, conserving energy is essential. Energy is conserved between the birds because the wings of the birds in the front of the formations create upwash vortex fields. A blog on BU explains, “Conservation of energy occurs because instead of flying on the same relative plane, each bird is at a slightly lower altitude than the other. This difference allows the birds to take ‘advantage of the upwash vortex fields created by the wings of the birds in front.’” All of this construction results in lower air resistance on the birds and each bird behind the next feels a reduction of the drag of air resistance. As the bird in front becomes tired, it falls behind the others as a new bird takes on the leading position. These rotations of positions allows the entire flock of birds to comfortably and successfully fly longer distances without becoming to exhausted.

A man by the name of Henri Weimerskirch conducted an experiment in 2001 where he placed heart rate monitors on a group of pelicans. The flew as a flock in a V-formation and Weimerskirch “found that birds at the back of the V had slower heart rates than those in the front, and flapped less often.”

This formation also helps the birds to coordinate where their flock is going next. With each bird being behind the next, it reduces the chance of one bird becoming lost or crashing into another bird in his or her flock, while the bird ahead is the director. As all the birds watch the leading bird, they are able to successfully fly in one direction toward their destination.

Even humans have adopted this smart idea used by these animals. A group of researchers at Stanford have “devised a flight pattern for airliners that borrows from this same energy saving mechanism to increase fuel efficiency. The proposed arrangement is to have three airplanes, spaced about 4 miles behind each other, and would have an increase of fuel efficiency of about 12 percent.”