Kinematic Analysis of the Collision Avoidance Behavior of Cliff Swallows

Public Deposited
Analytics

Downloadable Content

Download PDF
Request Version for Screen Reader
Last Modified
  • May 5, 2021
Creator
  • Taylor, Ian
    • Affiliation: College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Biology
Abstract
  • One interesting aspect of animal behavior is that each individual organism responds to stimuli independently of other organisms, barring the extensive pheromone communication of social insects. The behavior of conspecifics provides a significant source of stimuli that merit reaction, considering that, by definition, they utilize the same resources. In the case of American Cliff Swallows (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota), one of these resources is mud, which is used for nesting material. Despite requiring the same resources, these birds live in large colonies and must constantly respond to each other’s’ behavior, particularly when they fly quickly, in large groups, to collect mud from the same site. Furthermore, social situations between conspecifics might merit distinct types of behavior depending on the type of group activity. We sought to determine how Cliff Swallows avoid crashing into each other during high velocity low altitude group flight. We used a MATLAB-based software package to track individual members of a swallow colony as they approached a mud patch, using 3 different video angles to determine their 3D position during flight. Using this position data, we calculated their relative position, velocity and acceleration. Notable variables we observed were the mean and minimum bird to bird distances of each significant bird, changes in their closing and departing speeds and angles, and the ratio of their closing speed to average flight speed. We found that the birds do actively engage in collision avoidance behavior. However, we also found that Cliff Swallows approach each other much more closely during this mud-gathering behavior than has been observed in flocks of other similar-size birds. We also found that nest gathering interactions are distinct from other Cliff Swallow behaviors, such as tandem flights. This research can provide a deeper understanding of how individual animals respond to stimuli and avoid collisions, potentially inspiring crash avoidance algorithms in self-driving vehicles.
Date of publication
DOI
Resource type
Rights statement
  • In Copyright
Advisor
  • Hedrick, Tyson
    • Affiliation: College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Biology
Degree
  • Bachelor of Arts
Graduation year
  • 2021
Language
  • English

Relations

Parents:

This work has no parents.

Items

Thumbnail Title Date Uploaded Visibility Actions
file details Honors_Thesis_Ian_Taylor_Collision_Avoidance.pdf 2021-05-05 Public Download
file details swallowInteractionData.pdf 2021-05-05 Public Download
file details swallowInteractionDataSheet.pdf 2021-05-05 Public Download