Migration - the birds vs. humans

While researching for my earlier post on migration trends, I found an interesting correlation of how our own human migration patterns seem closely relate to another fascinating natural migration phenomenon by another species on this planet, the birds. (side note : love that hitchcock's movie)

I know you won't believe me unless I put in some convincing facts... so I dug up little dirt on web, and here's where you can see a strong correlation between them, the birds vs. us, the humans.

Why migrate ?

• Mating & Breeding, for birds the main reason is that the climate of breeding area for new chicks is important amen..same for us humans too.


• Greener pastures and abundance of food .. ofcourse, abundance of jobs, greenbacks $$$

Who migrates ?

• Recent research suggests that long-distance passerine migrant birds are of South American and African, rather than northern hemisphere, evolutionary origins. They are effectively southern species coming north to breed rather than northern species going south to winter.


• Recent research on human immigration suggests that long-distance immigrants are of South American and Asian descent, rather than from Northern/Western hemisphere, evolutionary origins. They are effectively Eastern and Southern species coming to West and north.

Timing to migrate ?

• In the period before migration, many birds display higher activity, well as physiological changes such as increased fat deposition - we do observe high activity of individuals before they decide to migrate, not sure of fat deposition ..hmm !


• In species where there is polygamy and with considerable sexual dimorphism, there is a tendency for males to return earlier to the breeding sites than their females. This is termed as protandry. - definitely males seem to land before their females

What threatens the migration ?

• Human activities have threatened many migratory bird species. - ditto here ! greedy corporation's deeds and reckless immigration policies come to haunt many immigrants


• The concentration of birds during migration can put species at risk. Told you ! not to flock to Bay area ! and ofcourse the longlines for visa and green cards !


• Hunting along the migratory route can also take a heavy toll. The populations of Siberian Cranes that wintered in India declined due to hunting along the route, particularly in Afghanistan and Central Asia. Ofcourse, those Talibans ... 9/11, Afghan and Iraq wars did take a toll on immigration !


• Habitat destruction by land use changes and large scale climatic changes is however the biggest threat - same for us, 401k destruction and large scale economic changes !


• Availability of food - sure, availability of jobs

Migration conditioning ?

• It has been possible to teach a migration route to a flock of birds, for example in re-introduction schemes. After a trial with Canada Geese, microlight aircraft were used in the US to teach safe migration routes to reintroduced Whooping Cranes.



• Human - hell, yes, large scale training efforts by certain corporations to build cheap skills can induce forced migration. Good examples are IT training centers setup in India led to mass migration of IT consultants to US

Side effects

• The migration of birds also aids the movement of other species including those of ectoparasites such as ticks and lice (avian flu !), which in turn may carry micro-organisms including those of concern to human health. On the same lines in case of humans, Body shoppers, Criminals and drug traffickers



• Vagrancy - Migrating birds can lose their way and land outside their normal ranges. These can be due to flying past their destinations as in the "spring overshoot" in which birds returning to their breeding areas overshoot and end up farther north than intended. Hello, Canada ! did you know immigrants accounted for 38% of population in Vancouver (wonder what the % of overshoots !).

So, it does seem perfectly natural and in human's DNA to alter our migratory routes to find better breeding grounds and greener pastures.. so while at it, of course keep a watch out for those ever changing (hunting, I mean, immigration) laws. Happy migration ! and remember next time you see a flock of birds flutter by... that could be telling you some thing about where you should go next !!!

Facts source : wapedia

Considering Expatriation out of US ? Beware ..

All immigrants to US are familiar with the agony and uncertainty one's family goes through the long drawn process of naturalization to becoming a LPR (Legal Permanent Resident) and finally to become a Citizen. (click on the image to the right)

Of course, finally when one does become a US citizen - it does seem like you reached goal and things finally settle down.

However, in the back of minds, every such first generation immigrant keeps an eye open to the "Plan B & C" of going back to the home country or else where some day once again to start this all over.

And, it never seemed that it could cause any problems in US to expatriate whenever you wanted. But not so easy any more ..Uncle Sam has put certain new checks to this process of 'expatriation' as well.. so exiting a maze is as difficult as entering it.

On June 17, 2008 a new 'exit tax' law was silently signed into force by former president George Bush, which makes expatriating from US a rather expensive step. The newly passed expatriation legislation imposes a "mark to market" tax on all worldwide assets owned by the "covered expatriate" on the day before expatriation occurs. Under this tax regime, all property is deemed sold on the day before expatriation and total net gains in excess of $600,000 are includable in income and taxed.

So who is considered an expatriate ?

By definition, "covered expatriates" can be either U.S. citizens or green card holders who decide to expatriate and who either had an average annual net income for the five years prior to expatriation greater than $139,000, which will be adjusted for inflation, or a net worth of a least $2 million on the actual date of expatriation.

Green card holders are also considered "covered expatriates" if they have had permanent resident status for at least eight of the 15 years prior to the expatriation, including the year of expatriation.

Related Links :

• Exit Tax for U.S. Expatriates to Become Law ; PWC Link ;
• The flight option in the "fight or flight" decision ;
• Immigration_reverse_brain_drain

Get rid of that mouse and keyboard, finally !

Check this out .. future of Human - Technology interaction

Outcome of research work being done at MIT Media Lab led by Pranav Mistry, a Ph.D student, and one of the winners of this year's prestigious "Young Innovators Under 35 award".

Called SixthSense project, it aims to seamlessly integrate digital information with our everyday physical world, and get rid of the clunky interfaces like mouse, keyboad, screens that exist today.
Here's the Trivia bit : Remember seeing this concept some where else before ? ( hint).

This idea of making a gesture-controlled interface is similar to what was in the Spielberg's famous 2002 movie .

So next time your kid wants to watch a sci-fi flick don't stop .... as you never know, that might inspire the next coolest invention. Till then I will keep clicking on this keyboard..

Related Links
Sixth Sense Project MIT Media Lab 2009's Young Innovator award Winners India Today