Why do seaguls fly over the sea??
350661
i think its because they feed on small fish that are visible from over the sea, or maybe they love what the humidity does to their hair/ feathers\naksugar06 what the hell are you talking about
761847
Some of them are buoyant and sleep floating on the surface breathing air. Others can do what in humans is comparable to the "dead man's float" where you are under the water motionless then tilt your head back only, rise to the surface to breathe, tilt it back and resubmerge. Hippos can do this without ever waking up so I assume some marine mammals can too.
194842
The above answers are correct, though probably not what you're asking about since you're asking why don't other birds as well. Well, first off, geese don't travel in V's, they travel in lines, which uses the same principles, just to a lesser extent, but that's neither here not there.\n\nThe main reason is size: ducks and geese are the only birds that are really big enough for the "drafting" to have an effect. All moving objects create the same wind based on their weight and size, so imagine a sparrow trying to draft another sparrow - it'd have to be basically eating the other one's feet. Additionally, smaller birds travel more erratically as opposed to the straight path of larger birds.\n\nThe other reason only birds and geese utilize this is because they're the main birds that migrate - for a bird that never travels more than 2-3 miles at a time, efficiency isn't exactly a necessity, but for birds that travel 600 miles every winter, maximizing energy is a must.
580440
Birds. Just to fly they'd need more brain power.
351620
The shape of their feet and the way they feed.  A sea gull will have webbed feet for swimming but are also carrion feeders which mean they have to walk on shore.  A sparrow has clawed feet and must hop from branch to branch.
594900
Generally, as with most animals, they can sense weather patterns and climate changes.  When something is out of the everyday pattern, their behavior changes.  As far as hurricanes: you usually see the birds leave waayyy before most of the people do.\n\nSo yeah, they fly away before it even hits land.
406248
Hummingbirds can fly right, left, up, down, backwards, even upside down due to their special wings. Hummingbirds are also able to hover by flapping their wings in a figure - 8 pattern.   http://www.kidsplanet.org/factsheets/hummingbirds.html
433650
Birds fly south because it is instinct. I hope that answers your question.
343039
It is actually a large sea bird.  For more info, please go here: http://www.aolsvc.worldbook.aol.com/wb/Article?id=ar010920&sc=-1
774593
You have put this question under mythology and folklore, so I'll answer it in the same vein, rather than going on about the more probable causes such as the birds had been fed by humans or that magpies like shiny objects (you are not a shiny object, are you?)\n\nIn old Norse folklore unexplained or "weird" behaviour of animals were sometimes visitations by spirits.  In the Icelandic sagas are stories of human ghosts taking on animal form (ie the ghost of Killer Hrap taking the form of a seal with human eyes in Laxadalen Saga),  or of "fetches": manifestations of guardian spirits, often in animal form (a goat in Njal's saga).\n\nThe chances are you are reading too much into things and the birds are just being curious.
532339
all the time! Usually i see just the light reflectiong off their wings cause they move so fast! It's a good sign if you do see them. kinda lucky.
64483
Mamals (teradactyles) used to fly with leatherlike wings so it would seem that humans could also.  However human arm and chest muscles are not very suitable for flight.  As in the term pigeon or chicken breasted, birds have muscular chests that fascilitate a powerful downward pull on the wings.  Coonsider the shape of a turkey breast and the thick breastmeat there.  Still, the only way a turkey can soar with the eagles, is in their talons.  We would tire too easily, even with very light fake wings.
512347
Generally it's called a V formation, and it's usually geese (Canada geese are common geese that you'd see). Ducks also fly this way, although I usually see them in pairs.\nBirds fly this way because it's more aerodynamic. The bird in front is essentially plowing the way through for the rest of them. The ones behind fly in its "wake". They take turns being the lead bird since that's the hardest position to be in.
949456
when it can't fly? what's a penguin for that matter? they can swim, fly, walk on their two feet... they're are just weird...
239420
the seagulls in florida sure hope so
1019373
Run by Flock of seagulls.
1010316
Sure, I like cranes.  \n\nThe sandhill crane (Grus canadensis) is probably my favourite, mainly because it actually occurs in my neck of the woods.\n\nUntil very recently, they migrated through the province about a hundred miles east of where I am, but in the last four or five years the lake they used to use as a staging ground has mostly dried up, and now they seem to be shifting farther west.\n\nIt's very weird to hear them flying overhead, often thousands of feet in altitude.  You rarely see them at first, but if you know what you're listening for, you can faintly hear them calling to each other in spring and fall, and search the sky for their wheeling flocks as they gain altitude for the next stage of their migration.\n\nPretty cool birds that many people around here never even notice.\n\nHere's a brief page about them:\n\nhttp://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/id/framlst/i2060id.html