Best of Steve Goodier: Using Your Homing Instinct

This post first appeared in our blog here

Did you know that the Arctic Tern, that lives about seven degrees south of the North Pole, leaves its home every year and flies all the way to Antarctica and back — some 23,000 miles in all.

I wonder WHY the bird does that.. Is it looking for a better place to live? Surely it must pass a LOT of good real estate between its home seven degrees south of the North Pole and Antarctica! Can’t it find something suitable? Is Antarctica really that much better? Or, if it’s getting a little warm, why doesn’t the bird just fly up to the North Pole?

But that’s not the point. The point is that the bird returns home — home to its special place near the North Pole. It flies all that distance and returns to just the same spot it once left. I can hardly drive across town without getting lost — how does it do it? Twenty three thousand miles! But somehow, the Arctic Tern possesses the ability to fly halfway around the globe and return home every year. Read more

Best of Steve Goodier: Using Your Homing Instinct

This post frst appeared in our blog here.

Did you know that the Arctic Tern, that lives about seven degrees south of the North Pole, leaves its home every year and flies all the way to Antarctica and back — some 23,000 miles in all.

I wonder WHY the bird does that.. Is it looking for a better place to live? Surely it must pass a LOT of good real estate between its home seven degrees south of the North Pole and Antarctica! Can’t it find something suitable? Is Antarctica really that much better? Or, if it’s getting a little warm, why doesn’t the bird just fly up to the North Pole?

But that’s not the point. The point is that the bird returns home — home to its special place near the North Pole. It flies all that distance and returns to just the same spot it once left. I can hardly drive across town without getting lost — how does it do it? Twenty three thousand miles! But somehow, the Arctic Tern possesses the ability to fly halfway around the globe and return home every year. Read more

Steve Goodier - Using Your Homing Instinct

Did you know that the Arctic Tern, that lives about seven degrees south of the North Pole, leaves its home every year and flies all the way to Antarctica and back — some 23,000 miles in all.

I wonder WHY the bird does that.. Is it looking for a better place to live? Surely it must pass a LOT of good real estate between its home seven degrees south of the North Pole and Antarctica! Can’t it find something suitable? Is Antarctica really that much better? Or, if it’s getting a little warm, why doesn’t the bird just fly up to the North Pole?

But that’s not the point. The point is that the bird returns home — home to its special place near the North Pole. It flies all that distance and returns to just the same spot it once left. I can hardly drive across town without getting lost — how does it do it? Twenty three thousand miles! But somehow, the Arctic Tern possesses the ability to fly halfway around the globe and return home every year. Read more