Fig. 1: Zebra finches dynamically change their spatial positions within the flying flock.
a, Schematic representation of the experimental setup in the flight section (not to scale). Blue-shaded areas: cameras’ fields of view. b,c, Tracked positions (sample rate: 24 Hz) of each bird are indicated for a time period of 586 ms in colour-reversed cutouts of freeze frames of the footage taken with Camera 1 (b) and Camera 2 (c). Coloured circles indicate the birds’ positions at the end of the sequence. Note the alignment of movement trajectories of the birds Pink, Lilac and Light blue, and of the birds Orange and Green. d, Pseudo 3D representation of all birds’ spatial positions (sample rate: 24 Hz) during one example of flight sessions (session 8, duration: 85.4 s), indicating the preferred area in the flight section occupied by each bird. e–g, Reconstructed flight paths (sample rate: 24 Hz) in the horizontal (e) and vertical (f) dimension, and in wind direction (g), for each bird during the flight session shown in d. f, frequency of position change (Hz = cycles per second); n.s., not significant. Note the rhythmic fluctuations of flight paths in the horizontal dimension. Axis scaling in b to g: negative values = bottom, left and downwind positions in the flight section. Marker colours in b to g correspond to the birds’ IDs. h, Mean (red dots) and s.d. (grey lines) of spatial distances normalized to the maximum distance detected for each bird pairing are shown for n = 15 bird pairings in the horizontal and vertical dimension, and in wind direction for the flight session shown in d.
