Ventura, a postdoctoral biology investigator for the Massachusetts-based Woods Gap Oceanographic Establishment stated when saying the findings that scientists reviewing the information “practically fell off our chairs.”
“It was stunning,” Ventura instructed The Washington Submit. “As a result of I used to be anticipating the alternative.”
The findings, revealed final week within the journal Present Biology, illustrate conduct that had by no means been recorded in birds, Ventura stated. Whereas some birds like Atlantic yellow-nosed albatrosses and streaked shearwaters fly within the middle of hurricanes for cover, he stated no others have been discovered to fly behind the storms for as much as 5 days and 1,512 miles at a time.
Desertas petrels, which dwell on Portugal’s Bugio Island, seem to chase hurricanes as a result of the winds trigger ocean mixing — the merging of heat water at an ocean’s floor with cooler water from under. That course of makes the birds’ prey — squid, small fish and crustaceans — rise to the floor, making them simpler to grab.
To higher perceive the birds’ conduct, scientists tied GPS trackers to 33 Desertas petrels, hoping to study extra about their migratory actions and foraging areas. For a couple of weeks in the course of the Atlantic’s hurricane season in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2019, researchers tracked their areas whereas they searched the ocean for meals — often after they had been most lively at evening.
In January 2020, Ventura and different researchers revealed a examine that discovered that Desertas petrels fly for tons of of miles at a time to seek for meals. But it surely wasn’t till final yr that Ventura in contrast his information with hurricane maps.
He stated he regarded on the areas of six hurricanes between 2015 and 2019 — Gaston, Ophelia, Lee, Gabrielle, Maria and Lorenzo — by means of the Nationwide Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s local weather tracker. Then, utilizing his information, he examined the place the birds went in the course of the storms.
A number of birds had been discovered to be someplace between 100 and 250 miles from all six storms. Stunned they had been so shut, Ventura stated he took the information to Caroline Ummenhofer, an affiliate scientist on the Woods Gap Oceanographic Establishment, late final yr. She confirmed that the birds had been following the path of cool sea temperatures left by the hurricanes, Ventura stated.
“It’s a type of moments that make the lifetime of a researcher very thrilling,” Ventura stated. “It sort of clicks, and also you’re like, ‘Oh, we’ve got one thing right here.’”
The birds withstood waves as much as 26 ft tall and wind speeds of 62 mph to catch their prey, the researchers discovered. They usually circled the hurricanes in a clockwise course — typically for greater than 24 hours at a time — earlier than returning to their nests atop steep cliffs, solely taking quick breaks to sleep in the course of the day.
“I like to consider them as very, very skillful sailors,” Ventura stated.
Don Lyons, director of conservation science for the Audubon Seabird Institute, a fowl conservation group, stated he had by no means seen a seabird observe hurricanes, which might injure or kill birds that get caught in sturdy winds.
“It is smart that some animals, together with these petrels, have realized to make the most of that [ocean] mixing,” Lyons instructed The Submit. “What’s stunning, maybe, is simply how carefully they observe the storm.”
Lyons stated there are in all probability different animals that profit from ocean mixing attributable to hurricanes.
“This examine will in all probability encourage individuals monitoring different predators to look extra rigorously on the information they’ve or to design research to have a look at these sorts of questions,” Lyons stated. “… I’m very positive that [Desertas petrels] should not alone in benefiting from this phenomenon.”
