Yep, this is fabulous science. I would have never known that dogs know how to fetch a thrown ball with accuracy. I'll bet flying birds use thermals with a precision similar to mathematical models showing how to best soar through the air; dolphins cut through the water in a manner reducable to numbers that demonstrate that they use the least amount of muscular power for the amount of forward motion; and wolves run down prey reflecting a near-perfect relationship between energy used to maintain the chase and finally killing the quarry. Wow.
"I'll bet flying birds use thermals with a precision similar to mathematical models showing how to best soar through the air"
It has been proved that birds that migrate south for winter, always wait for northern cold fronts to ride the jet stream south.
Time of year, and even food supply, is less of a factor to when they leave, than the jet stream.