Ventura, a postdoctoral biology investigator for the Massachusetts-based Woods Gap Oceanographic Establishment stated when asserting the findings that scientists reviewing the info “almost fell off our chairs.”
“It was shocking,” Ventura instructed The Washington Put up. “As a result of I used to be anticipating the other.”
The findings, printed final week within the journal Present Biology, illustrate habits 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 defense, 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’ habits, scientists tied GPS trackers to 33 Desertas petrels, hoping to be taught extra about their migratory actions and foraging areas. For a couple of weeks through the Atlantic’s hurricane season in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2019, researchers tracked their places whereas they searched the ocean for meals — normally after they have been most energetic at night time.
In January 2020, Ventura and different researchers printed a examine that discovered that Desertas petrels fly for a whole bunch of miles at a time to seek for meals. But it surely wasn’t till final yr that Ventura in contrast his knowledge with hurricane maps.
He stated he regarded on the places of six hurricanes between 2015 and 2019 — Gaston, Ophelia, Lee, Gabrielle, Maria and Lorenzo — by way of the Nationwide Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s local weather tracker. Then, utilizing his knowledge, he examined the place the birds went through the storms.
A number of birds have been discovered to be someplace between 100 and 250 miles from all six storms. Stunned they have been so shut, Ventura stated he took the info to Caroline Ummenhofer, an affiliate scientist on the Woods Gap Oceanographic Establishment, late final yr. She confirmed that the birds have been following the path of cool sea temperatures left by the hurricanes, Ventura stated.
“It’s a kind of moments that make the lifetime of a researcher very thrilling,” Ventura stated. “It form of clicks, and also you’re like, ‘Oh, now we have one thing right here.’”
The birds withstood waves as much as 26 toes tall and wind speeds of 62 mph to catch their prey, the researchers discovered. They usually circled the hurricanes in a clockwise path — usually for greater than 24 hours at a time — earlier than returning to their nests atop steep cliffs, solely taking brief breaks to sleep through 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 comply with hurricanes, which may injure or kill birds that get caught in robust winds.
“It is sensible that some animals, together with these petrels, have realized to benefit from that [ocean] mixing,” Lyons instructed The Put up. “What’s shocking, maybe, is simply how intently they comply with the storm.”
Lyons stated there are most likely different animals that profit from ocean mixing brought on by hurricanes.
“This examine will most likely encourage folks monitoring different predators to look extra rigorously on the knowledge they’ve or to design research to take a look at these sorts of questions,” Lyons stated. “… I’m very certain that [Desertas petrels] usually are not alone in making the most of this phenomenon.”
