This is cool on many levels. I know other animals see the world differently, but it’s always fun to hear another one, and solve a mystery that has had theories discussed my whole life.
Yeah the first was interesting. They been trying to tease that stuff out a long time. Birds can ‘see’ the Earth’s magnetic field.
Apologies accepted, but should anyone check that link, they should know there are soberer views out there:
(3.02) Barton Anderson - Where does fitness fit in theories of perception?
(3.03) Jonathan Cohen - Perceptual representation, veridicality, and the interface theory of perception.
(3.04) Shimon Edelman - Varieties of perceptual truth and their possible evolutionary roots.
(3.05) Jacob Feldman - Bayesian inference and “truth”: a comment on Hoffman, Singh, and Prakash.
(3.06) Chris Fields - Reverse engineering the world: a commentary on Hoffman, Singh, and Prakash,
“The interface theory of perception”.
(3.07) Jan Koenderink - Esse est Percipi & Verum est Factum.
(3.08) Rainer Mausfeld - Notions such as “truth” or “correspondence to the objective world” play no role in explanatory accounts of perception.
(3.09) Brian P. McLaughlin and E. J. Green - Are icons sense data ?
(3.10) Zygmunt Pizlo - Philosophizing cannot substitute for experimentation: comment on Hoffman, Singh & Prakash.
paybacks. 
I’ve often said “light” is nothing special except for our organs.
Is there a way for a magnetic field to become an electromagnetic wave? As the bird moves through it?
Electric stuff is certainly my weak point.
Heck if I know, but I’d doubt birds could do it.
I do know where to look for a better info on fields and waves and how they are interwoven.
ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES - NASA
Anatomy of an Electromagnetic Wave
… Electricity can be static, like the energy that can make your hair stand on end. Magnetism can also be static, as it is in a refrigerator magnet. A changing magnetic field will induce a changing electric field and vice-versa—the two are linked. These changing fields form electromagnetic waves. Electromagnetic waves differ from mechanical waves in that they do not require a medium to propagate. This means that electromagnetic waves can travel not only through air and solid materials, but also through the vacuum of space.
In the 1860’s and 1870’s, a Scottish scientist named James Clerk Maxwell developed a scientific theory to explain electromagnetic waves. He noticed that electrical fields and magnetic fields can couple together to form electromagnetic waves. He summarized this relationship between electricity and magnetism into what are now referred to as “Maxwell’s Equations.” …
Yes, that’s what I’m referring to.
If by the fact that the birds are flying through the magnetic field of the earth, they can then “See” the field in a way to help them navigate.
Of course, the magnetic field changes more so than the terrestrial land. So I don’t think it would be a “map” per se , but more of a guide.
I wonder if Monarch butterflies have the same thing…
Good point, the magnetic poles move all over the place from what I hear.
Wandering of the Geomagnetic Poles | National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI)
Geomagnetic poles
Magnetic poles are defined in different ways. They are commonly understood as positions on the Earth’s surface where the geomagnetic field is vertical (i.e., perpendicular) to the ellipsoid. These north and south positions, called dip poles, do not need to be (and are not currently) antipodal. In principle the dip poles can be found by conducting a magnetic survey to determine where the field is vertical. Other definitions of geomagnetic poles depend on the way the poles are computed from a geomagnetic model. In practice the geomagnetic field is vertical on oval-shaped loci traced on a daily basis, with considerable variation from one day to the next.
I imagine it’s another case of making conclusions on insufficient evidence, which new evidence will surprise us, because no one, or very few thought of looking at it that way.
I further imagine the new finding probably won’t ‘invalidate’ current findings, simply add more texture and detail, and make sense in hindsight.