How Flocking Birds Make Amazing Murmurations (Boids Algorithm) - Smarter Every Day 234
Added 2020-04-27 13:38:31 +0000 UTCI love this video so much.
Ever since I met with Ben Eater so many months ago (end of last year) I couldn't wait until January when the birds would flock back to my area. This is one of those videos that goes together in your head LONG before you ever get a chance to make it. It was kind of fun to have a mental note "wait for the birds to come to town so I can shoot footage for the Boids video."
Here's the end result: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LWmRuB-uNU
Also, you might find this interesting.... This video was never supposed to happen. I asked Ben to make the OODA loop simulation for me for the beginning of the disinformation series video almost a year and a half ago. He created the Boids simulation as a part of his exploration phase for that project.
Thank you so much for Supporting Smarter Every Day on Patreon. I really appreciate your help making these videos. I understand you do not have to support me and my family, but you choose to anyway, and for that I am grateful.
Regards,
Destin
Comments
Where is the "Peregrine" or "Coopers Hawk" factor in the algorithm? Get a bird of prey in the mix and they blow huge holes in the flocks that have tightened up because of their presence. Murmuration is a direct consequence of aerial predation.
Thomas Prunier
2020-10-02 17:08:52 +0000 UTCThis is really cool to see in fish as well - here's a school of sardines in Monterey Bay Aquarium's Open Ocean exhibit during feeding time: https://youtu.be/bI-w_QgVQfU?t=170
John Kua
2020-09-09 03:32:24 +0000 UTCWhat the flock is this?
Andrew Phillips
2020-05-24 23:30:03 +0000 UTCOh man, that's deep!
Smarter Every Day
2020-05-18 05:01:01 +0000 UTCMe too Ross!
Smarter Every Day
2020-05-18 05:00:08 +0000 UTCThanks Pete!
Smarter Every Day
2020-05-18 04:59:59 +0000 UTCI've heard about that!
Smarter Every Day
2020-05-18 04:59:47 +0000 UTCThanks Daniel
Smarter Every Day
2020-05-18 04:59:34 +0000 UTCI've always thought the same thing!
Smarter Every Day
2020-05-18 04:59:21 +0000 UTCDid you do it?
Smarter Every Day
2020-05-18 04:58:58 +0000 UTCThank you very much Daniel!
Smarter Every Day
2020-05-18 04:58:34 +0000 UTCI hear they're CRAZY in Nebraska!
Smarter Every Day
2020-05-18 04:58:22 +0000 UTCI love his music.
Smarter Every Day
2020-05-18 04:58:04 +0000 UTCYou caught that too!!!
Smarter Every Day
2020-05-18 04:57:54 +0000 UTCCousin Vinnie, I've wondered the same thing about rush hour in most cities: How similar is traffic congestion similar to fluid in a pipe? Congestion, entrance ramps, and intersections are not dissimilar from pressure, friction, and turbulence. I've searched for these things a few times and not found anything really relatable. I'd love to corner a traffic modeling expert one day to learn more about how traffic is actually modeled and shaped.
2020-05-12 04:24:16 +0000 UTCI stumbled across the Sebastian Lague's coding adventure series on boids. He also steps through the 3 different rules, but visualizes the different types from the perspective of one boid. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqtqltqcQhw)
2020-05-04 15:47:23 +0000 UTCThis is awesome, never ever thought it can be put into mathematical formulae. Interesting is bird just doing simple action but it ends up awesome:)
2020-05-03 22:58:26 +0000 UTCIt's all math until a bird poops on you.....
2020-04-29 00:16:54 +0000 UTCThis video is a perfect example of why I decided to support you, Destin. Thanks for this awesome work! It's one I'm excited to share with my dad, an avid birder and wildlife enthusiast who I was just telling about your channel!
Daniel Burt
2020-04-28 19:53:58 +0000 UTCBeautiful video Destin! Pretty neat to see the Sandhill Cranes outside of where I'm at in Florida.
2020-04-28 07:31:26 +0000 UTCYeah! I had the same thought! People walking through a crowded area like Times Square or fans exiting a sporting event.
2020-04-28 02:46:54 +0000 UTCWeird thought, maybe, but I'd love to see a similar analysis of people walking in the streets of NYC or some other densely populated city.
Cousin Vinnie
2020-04-27 20:01:06 +0000 UTCThat soundtrack from Gordon was beautiful! (As was the rest of the video :P)
Lars Sturm
2020-04-27 19:21:14 +0000 UTCPretty interesting that work on John Boyd's OODA Loop led to a video on the Boid algorithm!
william bumgardner
2020-04-27 18:11:48 +0000 UTCFlamingos at Disney behave that way when they are walking around in ponds. One turns and all the rest do too. They are quite entertaining to watch. We used to get huge clouds of Starlings and Blackbirds in the fall in East Tennessee. You could fire a shotgun into that flock and think you were guaranteed a hit but amazingly, you would not hit a thing unless you properly led the shot at a specific bird. I thought that was pretty amazing as well.
KC
2020-04-27 15:28:26 +0000 UTCThank you Destin! Loved it! You said that the birds flights are based on math, to me it feels more like we can explain the flights with math. Do you think that the universe defines the math or the math defines the universe?
2020-04-27 15:02:30 +0000 UTCGreat info as always πΊπΈ
Mrgunsngear
2020-04-27 14:38:26 +0000 UTCOK.. Just answered my own question.. Destin didn't put it here, but on the Youtube video, there's a link to Ben's site and he has published the simulation both as an interactive webpage and has a link to the code on GitHub.. Anyone else interested: https://eater.net/boids and I STRONGLY recommend all of Ben's videos if you have any interest in learning basic digital electronics and computers.. Ben and Destin are my top 2 for "STOP EVERYTHING there's a new video out!!"
Steve Jones
2020-04-27 14:36:29 +0000 UTCThis was a great video.. We dont get to see that too much up here in [suburban] Maryland but it's always fun to watch whenever we do.. Ben Eater is one of my other favorite creators and I'm sitting here right now building 2 of his kits.. (one done, working on the other!) do you think he'd share the code he was demonstrating? It would be fun to play with.. Maybe even use an LED panel as a display on a Raspberry Pi and maybe external sensors to adjust some of those parameters in real-time. Only question.. you say "the birds are individually making decisions with math".. I dont know that you can say that... The birds are making decisions based on instinctual parameters but probably aren't doing any "math".. It's probably more correct to say we can SIMULATE them using math, which is cool in itself - being able to accurately simulate a natural phenomenon which looks seemingly random, using math and NOT relying on anything random.
Steve Jones
2020-04-27 14:29:49 +0000 UTCI absolutely loved this!
2020-04-27 14:27:18 +0000 UTCA lot more interesting than the old cellular automata that I played with back in the dark ages. Great video!
Pete Hall in Wi
2020-04-27 14:15:47 +0000 UTCThat was a fantastic video, I loved it! Destin, now you need to take a road trip or flight to Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico to record the flocking behavior of the Mexican free-tailed bats, Tadarida brasiliensis, that migrate to that cave every year. You could also record footage and HQ 3D audio for both your main channel and your Sound Traveler channel at the entrance to the cave system at dusk when the bats fly into the cave and also deep inside the cave system for an entirely different video topic about cave life or geology. :)
[Ξ³Ξ΄(Ξ±ΞΌ)]
2020-04-27 13:54:11 +0000 UTCAwesome video.
Daniel Turner
2020-04-27 13:52:23 +0000 UTC
