This is Bird Note. In any given night of migration, hundreds of thousands, if not millions of

birds travel across North America. And while clouds can obscure their view of the earth,

some birds take their directions from the stars, which act as road signs in the night sky.

But the stars appear to rotate in the sky from dust to dawn. So how do the birds find their

way as their beacons move? That's what ornithologist Stephen Emlin wanted to uncover, with a series of experiments in the 1960s and 70s with the help of indigo buntings and the planetarium in Flint, Michigan.

Emlin placed the buntings in special cages that allowed him to track their movements as the simulated night sky changed above them.

Then he tinkered with the stars by blacking out some constellations or rotating the sky.

Emlin found that the buntings oriented themselves by looking for the pattern of stars that appeared to rotate the least,

especially the north star, also called Polaris,

and its nearby constellations,

Ursa Major and Cassiopeia.

Next time you get a clear view of the night sky,

see if you can find true north,

like an Indigo Bunting,

the ultimate stargazer.

Okay. like an indigo bunting, the ultimate stargazer. For Bird Note, I'm Ariana Rimmel.