In 1984, zoologist Wayne Potts published an article in Nature on his research on how flocking birds move. And his work illustrated that birds in flocks don’t just follow a leader. Instead, they anticipate sudden changes in the flock’s direction.
Sounds like precognition, right?
Once a change in direction begins in the flock, Potts said, it “spreads through the flock in a wave.” Potts called it a manoeuvre wave and said that it begins slowly but can reach speeds three times faster than would be possible if birds were simply reacting to their immediate neighbors. Potts called this ability among flocking birds the chorus line hypothesis. That is, he said, birds are like dancers who see an approaching leg kick when it’s still down the line, and anticipate what to do.
“These propagation speeds appear to be achieved in much the same way as they are in a human chorus line: individuals observe the approaching manoeuvre wave and time their own execution to coincide with its arrival.
So one day last February, I (Trish) was driving to my favorite salon to getmy hair trimmed. The route was pleasant and my mind hummed along, thinking it was a new moon day in Aquarius, a fellow air sign, and new moons always meant new opportunities. Suddenly, I found myself stuck in a weird, negative train of thought, and tried to find something else to think about.
I glanced up at the sky and saw a flock of birds – hundreds of small birds, flying west. Then they suddenly changed directions. And it hit me as a synchro, a message that I should do an immediate 180 in my thinking. That’s what I did and realized I had just seen a manoeuvre wave.
Such an interesting observation.