--- description: A new study shows that man-made radiation stemming from electronic devices disrupts migratory birds' internal compasses title: Birds Can't Find Their Way Because of Man-Made Radiation image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltefad6075e9111f13/69868e983617602b5590bea6/rtxv9ok.jpg?branch=production&width=1920&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Science](/section/science/) ## Science Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [animals](/tag/animals/) ## animals Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Birds Are Getting Lost Because of Our Gadgets, Claims Study by [Michelle Arrouas](/author/michelle-arrouas/) ## Michelle Arrouas Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 9, 2014 9:39 AM CUT  A Robin stands in the snow in Bramall Park in Manchester, northern England, December 1, 2010\. The snow and freezing temperatures continued to cause major problems for road, rail and air services on Wednesday. REUTERS/Phil Noble (BRITAIN - Tags: ENVIRONMENT) - RTXV9OK A Robin stands in the snow in Bramall Park in Manchester, northern England, December 1, 2010\. The snow and freezing temperatures continued to cause major problems for road, rail and air services on Wednesday. REUTERS/Phil Noble (BRITAIN - Tags: ENVIRONMENT) - RTXV9OKPhil Noble—Reuters by [Michelle Arrouas](/author/michelle-arrouas/) ## Michelle Arrouas Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 9, 2014 9:39 AM CUT European migratory birds are having [trouble](http://www.outsideonline.com/news-from-the-field/Birds-Cant-Find-Their-Way.html?258481631&utm%5Fcampaign=googlenews&utm%5Fsource=googlenews&utm%5Fmedium=xmlfeed "undefined") finding their way around because of man-made magnetic radiation, a new [report ](http://www.outsideonline.com/news-from-the-field/Birds-Cant-Find-Their-Way.html?258481631&utm%5Fcampaign=googlenews&utm%5Fsource=googlenews&utm%5Fmedium=xmlfeed "undefined")shows. Researchers believe electromagnetic waves from major cities, stemming from electronic devices, disrupt the internal compasses of the birds, hampering their natural orientation skills. Henrik Mouritsen, co-author of the report published in the science journal [_Nature_](http://www.outsideonline.com/news-from-the-field/Birds-Cant-Find-Their-Way.html?258481631&utm%5Fcampaign=googlenews&utm%5Fsource=googlenews&utm%5Fmedium=xmlfeed "undefined"), says robins were better able to navigate when their huts were covered with aluminum plating to obscure the magnetic interference. Otherwise, the electromagnetic waves disrupted the birds’ internal magnetic compasses, he says. The study was completed through seven years of double-blind experiments. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/93681/birds-orientation-manmade-radiation/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/93681/birds-orientation-manmade-radiation/"},"headline":"Birds Are Getting Lost Because of Our Gadgets, Claims Study","datePublished":"2014-05-09T09:39:52.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T07:44:57.641Z","description":"A new study shows that man-made radiation stemming from electronic devices disrupts migratory birds' internal compasses","url":"https://time.com/93681/birds-orientation-manmade-radiation/","keywords":["animals","behavior","europe","birds","Science topic","cities","Radiation"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltefad6075e9111f13/69868e983617602b5590bea6/rtxv9ok.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Michelle Arrouas","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/michelle-arrouas/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltefad6075e9111f13/69868e983617602b5590bea6/rtxv9ok.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"A Robin stands in the snow in Bramall Park in Manchester","caption":"A Robin stands in the snow in Bramall Park in Manchester","creditText":"Phil Noble—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/animals/","name":"animals"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/93681/birds-orientation-manmade-radiation/","name":"Birds Are Getting Lost Because of Our Gadgets, Claims Study"}}]}] ```