Natures wonders: seabirds food finding flight patterns (Introduction)

by David Turell , Monday, April 13, 2020, 18:08 (1475 days ago) @ David Turell

A new discovery about seabirds using flight patterns to locate food at sea:

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/seabirds-may-find-food-sea-flying-massive-kilometer...

"Food is scattered thinly in the open ocean, and seabirds often need to search far and wide to find sustenance. Now, researchers think they’ve found a new cooperative strategy among the birds, one that may help them survive on the high seas. Multiple groups of flying seabirds can arrange themselves into massive line formations that “rake” over the ocean’s surface, possibly to more efficiently search for food.

"Far from land, the ocean can be unforgiving, but seabirds have a remarkable suite of adaptations for finding food in this blue desert. For example, seabirds can work together when foraging on a chance school of fish, boosting catch rates by synchronizing their diving.

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"Analyzing the radar images for movement patterns in groups of seabirds, the scientists found that multiple groups would fly in a parallel sweep as often as 19 times a day. The birds also seemed to be adjusting their speed and position relative to one another so that they formed an evenly spaced line over the top of the ocean. Some of these formations, with groups spaced half a kilometer apart and reaching four kilometers across, would last nearly 20 minutes before collapsing or merging together. "

Comment: There is no clear finding of these lines collapsing on schools of fish, so presently all we have are human guesses on how all this might work. This is not how birds of a feather flock together normally.