Migration #2

Antonio Frasconi

The 2nd image in a series of 6 woodcuts Frasconi did in 1959 exploring the abstract but controlled silhouette shapes created by a flock of birds as they migrate, moving in unison in a constantly changing pattern. This image is illustrated in the book "Frasconi / Against the Grain", figure number 50.

The website EarthSky states 'The classic research on how flocking birds move in unison comes from zoologist Wayne Potts, who published in the journal Nature in 1984. His work showed that bird in flocks don’t just follow a leader, or their neighbors. Instead, they anticipate sudden changes in the flock’s direction of motion.

And he said, once a change in direction begins in the flock, it then “spreads through the flock in a wave.” The propagation of this "maneuver wave," as he called it, begins relatively 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.'