Page 167 - For Men of Understanding

THE MIGRATION OF BIRDS

I n the Qur’an, Allah calls us to give attention to birds with His verse
"Have they not looked at the birds above them, with wings outspread
and folded back? Nothing holds them up but the All-Merciful. He sees
all things." (Surat al-Mulk: 19) In this part, we will particularly review migrato-
ry birds; we will describe what perfect balances they establish travelling in the
skies, and the systems their bodies are endowed with, and focus on the won-
der of Allah’s upholding them "in the sky".

HOW DO BIRDS DETERMINE THE TIME OF MIGRATION?
Why and how birds started to migrate and what made them take the "deci-
sion of migration" have long been topics of interest. Some scientists hold the
reason of migration to be seasonal changes while some others believe the rea-
son to be the search for food. What deserves consideration is how these ani-
mals, having no protection, technical outfit, and security but only their bodies,
can make these very long-distance flights. Migration requires some special skills
like orientation, food storage, and the ability to fly for long periods. It is impos-
sible for an animal not possessing these characteristics to transform into a
migratory animal.
One of the experiments made to address this issue is as follows: garden
nightingales were subjected to experiments in a lab where internal conditions
such as temperature and light could be varied. Internal conditions were
arranged differently from external conditions. For instance, if it was winter out-
side, a spring climate was created in the laboratory and the birds arranged their
bodies in accordance with that. The birds stored fat for fuel, just as they do
when time for migration approaches. Although birds organised themselves
according to the artificial season, and prepared themselves as if they were
going to migrate, they did not set out to migrate before it was time. They
observed the season outside. This was evidence that birds do not take the deci-
sion to start migration according to seasonal conditions.
How, then, do birds determine the time for migration? Scientists have still
not found an answer to this question. They believe that living things have
"body clocks" that help them to know the time in a closed environment and to

The Signs in Living Things 165