A new study shows how small seabirds have mastered the art of working smarter not harder when soaring at sea.
A new study shows how small seabirds have mastered the art of working smarter not harder when soaring at sea.
The new study published today in Science Advances proves it is not just albatrosses that perform the aerial acrobatics needed for dynamic soaring on the windy open ocean. The research shows that sleek seabirds called Manx shearwater perform the same feat of flight in the seas around the UK.
Albatross glide in a corkscrew motion to harvest energy from the wind gradient over the ocean surface, where the wind gets faster with height. This method of harvesting wind energy to conserve effort is called dynamic soaring, and explains how albatross can travel thousands of miles across the oceans whilst barely flapping their wings.
Using bird-borne video cameras and GPS loggers, researchers from the Department of Biology, University of Oxford have shown that Manx shearwater also use dynamic soaring. The key difference is that by flapping their wings for part of the cycle, shearwaters can perform the same feat of flight in weaker winds.
Read more at University of Oxford
Photo Credit: waagefr via Pixabay
