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 Put up. “As a result of I used to be anticipating the other.”
The findings, revealed 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 beneath. 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 study extra about their migratory actions and foraging areas. For just a few weeks through the Atlantic’s hurricane season in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2019, researchers tracked their areas whereas they searched the ocean for meals — often once they had been most lively at evening.
In January 2020, Ventura and different researchers revealed a examine that discovered that Desertas petrels fly for lots of of miles at a time to seek for meals. Nevertheless it wasn’t till final yr that Ventura in contrast his knowledge with hurricane maps.
He stated he appeared on the areas of six hurricanes between 2015 and 2019 — Gaston, Ophelia, Lee, Gabrielle, Maria and Lorenzo — by 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 had been discovered to be someplace between 100 and 250 miles from all six storms. Shocked 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 form of clicks, and also you’re like, ‘Oh, we’ve 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 sometimes circled the hurricanes in a clockwise path — typically for greater than 24 hours at a time — earlier than returning to their nests atop steep cliffs, solely taking quick 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 might injure or kill birds that get caught in robust winds.
“It is sensible that some animals, together with these petrels, have discovered to reap the benefits of that [ocean] mixing,” Lyons instructed The Put up. “What’s stunning, 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 individuals monitoring different predators to look extra rigorously on the knowledge they’ve or to design research to have a look at these sorts of questions,” Lyons stated. “… I’m very certain that [Desertas petrels] aren’t alone in benefiting from this phenomenon.”
