Monday 17 September 2012

An Engineering Marvel

Whether you're a 'bird person' or not this is stunning. Not to detract from the sheer magic of it, but in practical terms,how many trips would a bird have to make with that tiny quantity of mud/clay it could carry?

How does the bird come up with the windbreak/entrance design that shields the eggs/chicks from the elements?











16 comments:

Joe Public said...

Fascinating - thanks for sharing it SR.

Presumably constructed after the recent relaxation of Planning Permission rules ;-)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/9524089/David-Cameron-build-your-way-out-of-recession-with-home-improvements.html

BTW excuse my ornithological ignorance, but what birds are they?

JimS said...

Maybe it is the only design of entrance that a bird can make standing on the threshold?

JRB said...

Isn’t nature wonderful.

Joe - think the are the South American ‘Hornero’. Named derived from ‘horno’ = ‘an oven’, being the shape of the nest.
(Before you ask – no – I didn’t know their name either – isn’t the internet wonderful. LOL :) )

subrosa said...

Ignorance here too Joe because no answer could be found. My 'expert' said they're more or less sure they're not UK birds though.

Will see what I can find.

subrosa said...

Maybe Jim.

subrosa said...

Ah JRB, excellent. The bird expert here didn't come up with that. I will take great delight in mentioning your discovery. :)

subrosa said...

Here's Wiki's entry for the hornero.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hornero

Joe Public said...

@ JRB - Thanks for the ID info.

The Blog photos could so-easily be a window sill in the UK.

Demetrius said...

Deceptively spacious?

Brian said...

"How does the bird come up with the windbreak/entrance design that shields the eggs/chicks from the elements?"

Probably a bird added a lip to one side of the entrance hole, the eggs hatched and fledged successfully and those birds and their descendents added a bit more to the lip until a dividing wall was created, assuming that the wall offered benefits in hatching and fledging birds that exceeded the extra work involved. As for how the birds know how to build the nest, it's part hardwired into their brains (like language) and part learned in the nest by looking around as a bored fledgling and by building nests - practice makes perfect. It would be interesting to see what sort of nest they would build if mud wasn't available.
Finally, I like the fact that the pairs build the nest together as a bonding activity - Aaah :).

subrosa said...

I believe they lay around 4 eggs so yes, they'd need space Demetrius. :)

subrosa said...

Super reckoning Brian and I agree with the commitment shown by both the mother and father.

Yer a softie!

cynicalHighlander said...

I bet they don't lie to each other like our MPs regularly do, we have a lot to learn from nature but sadly the economy is prioritised over common sense.

subrosa said...

Well said CH. We've lost the value of many things and only think of them in terms of sterling.

Brian said...

Rosie,

I can't claim "superb reckoning" on my part - a little bird told me :)
I have to stress that the birds didn't start off by thinking that a dividing wall would be a good idea: that takes the sort of intelligence that adapts birds' activities to solve a problem by, for example, adding straw to bricks to strengthen them or making wattle and daub walls.

subrosa said...

It certainly puts the analogy 'bird brain' much higher up my list Brian. :)

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