[AnotherGoodName]

I wonder if it's as simple as wanting to catch the most sun hence a north south orientation to expose the flanks and the shadows from high voltage towers interfere with this hence the difference under those towers.

[flysand7]

I found the relevant research: https://www.pnas.org/doi/pdf/10.1073/pnas.0803650105

> Furthermore, there was no correlation between the position of roe deer and the time of day when the observation took place, meaning that the position of the sun had no influence on deer orientation.

Although I'm not sure how credible this information is given that they studied google images where who knows what time of day they are taking images at. Maybe there was a correlation.

[d1sxeyes]

It should be fairly possible to determine the time an aerial photograph was taken by studying the angle cast by shadows in the photograph.

[Bob_LaBLahh]

Thank you! My curious but busy/lazy ass wanted to know the answer but wasn't gonna do the legwork.

[justsomehnguy]

My first though would be a wind, which you can't measure with photos.

[RoyalHenOil]

This sounds like the likely explanation. Crop rows and greenhouses are generally aligned North-South for the same reason: to maximize direct sun exposure.