Seabird Terns Can Seem To Anticipate Typhoons To Assist in Their Migration

A new study has found that seabird terns can seem to anticipate typhoons to assist in their migration. They can time their flight and travel to coincide with favorable conditions.

For example, terns appear to fly immediately after the passage of typhoons. They are altering their flight plan depending on typhoon behavior and arrival, which they can keenly sense. They can then avoid their full brunt while at the same time take advantage of the feeding opportunities that arise from the wake of these storms.

Tracking the birds

Yamashina Institute for Ornithology scientists analyzed data provided by the tracking equipment installed on six individual black-naped terns which came from Okinawa in Japan. The purpose of tracking the birds is to determine their migratory patterns and behavior over several years.

They tracked the terns as they traveled across a portion of the "typhoon highway" of the Philippine Sea as they traveled to Sulawesi and Borneo. They were found to vary their times of departure, where they apparently waited before they left until a crossing typhoon is about to intersect their flight path.

Predicting weather

According to Japan National Institute of Polar Research postdoctoral fellow Jean-Baptiste Thiebot, the birds seem to know how to predict storms. He led the new study which his research team published in the journal Marine Biology.

According to past research, some migrating species of birds appear to be able to detect infrasonic signals of weather and maybe observe changes in clouds. Meanwhile, the new research did not offer much explanation regarding how the terns can predict the weather.

Avoiding typhoons and benefiting from them

The subjects of the study usually avoided flying during typhoons. However, the storms also cause the ocean surface to have plentiful food, as the storms churn them up. Thus, right after a storm passed, the terns can have their fill from the presence of abundant food items.

According to Thiebot, the birds are able to analyze the storms in order to determine when they will leave to fly to their migratory destinations. During the unusually calm 2017 typhoon season, there were no cues coming from strong typhoons. This condition caused the terns to begin their migration much later, flying without any pit stops along the way.

This pattern, according to Thiebot, may be confirmed by future and more encompassing studies.

Thiebot is worried that the increasing occurrences of typhoons may have a negative effect on the ability of the birds to accurately predict them. They can then potentially be caught up in hazardous weather and prevent them from successfully completing their migratory journeys.

According to US Geological Survey or USGS wildlife biologist emeritus Robert Gill, who did not take part in the research, the study may have a small sample size, but it contributed to the overall understanding of scientists regarding bird migration. He also conducted studies in shorebirds which also base their migration times partly on approaching storms, although there have been few types of research that focused on such behavior.

According to Gill, birds such as terns are better at predicting the weather during their migration compared to the best human forecasters of typhoons, since they have up to millions of years of experience.

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