Seabirds: why do they fly into the eye of the storm?

The shearwatersamong the many seabirds, fly directly into the eye of the cyclone. Normally you would think they are avoiding the cyclone, instead they head towards the storm to avoid being pushed to shore and incurring serious injuries. Shearwaters are daring waterfowl, to enjoy the spectacle of their flight you must be on a boat offshore. This is because they spend most of their lives in the open sea.

These are medium-sized birds, they are part of the petrel family. It is easier to find them in temperate and cold waters, when they return to the mainland they do so to lay their eggs and care for the cubs. Shearwaters fly with stiff wings on the surface of the water to take advantage of the ocean currents and save energy. Shearwater is a migratory bird which can cover routes of more than 14 thousand km.

The study of shearwaters was aimed at understanding how these birds respond to tropical cyclones and storms in the Sea of ​​Japan. For 11 years, experts have been analyzing the flight of adult shearwaters using GPS. It was noted that during a storm, birds flew to the center, the point where the wind is highest. Shearwaters even managed to track the storm for a long time without drifting out of orbit.

The reason is that in this way they manage to to prevent to be dragging on the it costs and impact against the soil. Their flight makes great use of the intensity of time and they also have a great sense of orientation. This study was very useful in understanding animal behavior and anatomy. Thousands of years of evolution have turned shearwaters into flight masters with unsurpassed adaptability.