Precocious Juveniles

Walking or driving or riding, I observe objects that pass on the street. In early September there are flocks of birds everywhere, my favorite urban wildlife. How the many birds fly and swirl around without crashing into each other is amazing. Researchers surmise birds flock up as a safety measure. A predator can only take one bird at a time (no shotgun scatter as applied by humans) so the chances of my being chosen for food is less when I am one flying among many.
An interesting fact discovered was that the young of a species migrated in flocks before the adults. Now that really puzzled researchers. The discovery put an end to the theory that older birds led their offspring to the chosen wintering areas. And because juvenile birds had all new feathers they were ultimately prepared to undertake the migrating flight as soon as some biological clock struck the magic hour.
You see ma and pa must have new feathers for flying as well. New feathers grow in during a process called molting. A new feather pushes up through the follicle and dislodges the old one. The slightest break in the feather seriously impairs the ability to fly any distance, let alone the long flights of migration.
Maybe it doesn’t matter to you and me. But I would like to see birds return in the spring. And just so you know, males of most songbird species come in the first flocks to claim their territory. Some even build nests for the females. The species where birds mate for life fly north in flocks but the pairs stop off in their historic nesting areas. So kids learn some things whether they want to or not? Interesting.
Not something we absolutely need to know but should we wonder if the precocious trait of human juveniles was set in evolution long past?
Naomi Sherer