An Instrumented Golden Eagle’s (Aquila chrysaetos) Long-Distance Flight Behavior
SIMPLE SUMMARY: All large birds have devised ways to save on the costly energy demands of flight. Geese, which form into a precise V formation, are a familiar example. Current measurements from GPS instrumentation attached to birds provide the exact location of the bird at every second of its flight...
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ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:9179650 2023-05-15T18:49:21+02:00 An Instrumented Golden Eagle’s (Aquila chrysaetos) Long-Distance Flight Behavior Garstang, Michael Greco, Steven Emmitt, George D. Miller, Tricia A. Lanzone, Michael 2022-06-06 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9179650/ https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12111470 en eng MDPI http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9179650/ http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani12111470 © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). CC-BY Animals (Basel) Article Text 2022 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12111470 2022-06-12T01:02:32Z SIMPLE SUMMARY: All large birds have devised ways to save on the costly energy demands of flight. Geese, which form into a precise V formation, are a familiar example. Current measurements from GPS instrumentation attached to birds provide the exact location of the bird at every second of its flight. These measurements are transmitted during migration. An analysis of such data for a single 105 km (~70 mile) segment of a golden eagle’s flight illustrates how the bird makes use of atmospheric waves near 2000 m above the ground to repetitively climb 100s of meters while circling, followed by long glides to advance along its migratory route. From this height, in sixteen circling/gliding episodes, the eagle covers more than 100 km by harvesting atmospheric wave energy. Such details of a single bird’s 2 h segment of flight provide insight into how a soaring bird can cross continents and oceans, and even rise over the world’s highest mountains. ABSTRACT: One-second-processed three-dimensional position observations transmitted from an instrumented golden eagle were used to determine the detailed long-range flight behavior of the bird. Once elevated from the surface, the eagle systematically used atmospheric gravity waves, first to gain altitude, and then, in multiple sequential glides, to cover over 100 km with a minimum expenditure of its metabolic energy. Text Aquila chrysaetos golden eagle PubMed Central (PMC) Animals 12 11 1470 |
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Article Garstang, Michael Greco, Steven Emmitt, George D. Miller, Tricia A. Lanzone, Michael An Instrumented Golden Eagle’s (Aquila chrysaetos) Long-Distance Flight Behavior |
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description |
SIMPLE SUMMARY: All large birds have devised ways to save on the costly energy demands of flight. Geese, which form into a precise V formation, are a familiar example. Current measurements from GPS instrumentation attached to birds provide the exact location of the bird at every second of its flight. These measurements are transmitted during migration. An analysis of such data for a single 105 km (~70 mile) segment of a golden eagle’s flight illustrates how the bird makes use of atmospheric waves near 2000 m above the ground to repetitively climb 100s of meters while circling, followed by long glides to advance along its migratory route. From this height, in sixteen circling/gliding episodes, the eagle covers more than 100 km by harvesting atmospheric wave energy. Such details of a single bird’s 2 h segment of flight provide insight into how a soaring bird can cross continents and oceans, and even rise over the world’s highest mountains. ABSTRACT: One-second-processed three-dimensional position observations transmitted from an instrumented golden eagle were used to determine the detailed long-range flight behavior of the bird. Once elevated from the surface, the eagle systematically used atmospheric gravity waves, first to gain altitude, and then, in multiple sequential glides, to cover over 100 km with a minimum expenditure of its metabolic energy. |
format |
Text |
author |
Garstang, Michael Greco, Steven Emmitt, George D. Miller, Tricia A. Lanzone, Michael |
author_facet |
Garstang, Michael Greco, Steven Emmitt, George D. Miller, Tricia A. Lanzone, Michael |
author_sort |
Garstang, Michael |
title |
An Instrumented Golden Eagle’s (Aquila chrysaetos) Long-Distance Flight Behavior |
title_short |
An Instrumented Golden Eagle’s (Aquila chrysaetos) Long-Distance Flight Behavior |
title_full |
An Instrumented Golden Eagle’s (Aquila chrysaetos) Long-Distance Flight Behavior |
title_fullStr |
An Instrumented Golden Eagle’s (Aquila chrysaetos) Long-Distance Flight Behavior |
title_full_unstemmed |
An Instrumented Golden Eagle’s (Aquila chrysaetos) Long-Distance Flight Behavior |
title_sort |
instrumented golden eagle’s (aquila chrysaetos) long-distance flight behavior |
publisher |
MDPI |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9179650/ https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12111470 |
genre |
Aquila chrysaetos golden eagle |
genre_facet |
Aquila chrysaetos golden eagle |
op_source |
Animals (Basel) |
op_relation |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9179650/ http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani12111470 |
op_rights |
© 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12111470 |
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Animals |
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12 |
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11 |
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1470 |
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1766242949514919936 |