Flexible flight response to challenging wind conditions in a commuting Antarctic seabird: do you catch the drift?

• Published in: Animal Behaviour
• Main Authors: Tarroux, Arnaud, Weimerskirch, Henri, Wang, Sheng-Hung, Bromwich, David H., Cherel, Yves, Kato, Akiko, Ropert‐coudert, Yan, Varpe, Øystein, Yoccoz, Nigel G, Descamps, Sébastien
• Other Authors: Norvegian Polar Research Institute (NPRI), Norwegian Polar Institute, Centre d'Études Biologiques de Chizé - UMR 7372 (CEBC), Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-La Rochelle Université (ULR)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Département Ecologie, Physiologie et Ethologie (DEPE-IPHC), Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien (IPHC), Université de Strasbourg (UNISTRA)-Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA) Mulhouse - Colmar (Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA))-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Strasbourg (UNISTRA)-Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA) Mulhouse - Colmar (Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA))-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Department of Arctic and Marine Biology, University of Tromsø (UiT)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2016
• Subjects: airspeed; central-place foraging; drift; flight height; flying tactics; orientation; Procellariiformes; [SDE]Environmental Sciences; Antarctic; Antarc*; Antarctic Petrel; Antarctica; Thalassoica antarctica; ice covered areas
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-01291249; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2015.12.021

International audience Flight is intrinsically an energetically costly way of moving and birds have developed morphological,physiological and behavioural adaptations to minimize these costs. Central-place foraging seabirdscommute regularly between nesting and foraging areas, providing us with opportunities to investigatetheir behavioural response to environmental conditions that may affect flight, such as wind. Here wetested hypotheses on how wind conditions influence flight behaviour in situations devoid of the confoundingeffect that, for instance, active foraging behaviour can have on movement patterns. We studiedthe Antarctic petrel, Thalassoica antarctica, a seabird breeding far inland in Antarctica and commutingthrough vast ice-covered areas characterized by steady and strong winds as well as a strict absence offoraging opportunities. We combined the three-dimensional location data from 79 GPS tracks with atmosphericwind data over three consecutive breeding seasons (2011e2013) in order to assess individualflight responses to wind conditions. Antarctic petrels encountered generally unfavourable winds,particularly during return flights. Despite their capacity to adjust their speed and heading in order tomaintain constant track direction (compensation) in the strongest winds, they generally drifted as windstrengthened. Strong winds induced low-altitude flight. Birds tended to otherwise fly relatively high, butat altitudes with more favourable winds than what they would have encountered if flying higher. Ourresults show that commuting Antarctic petrels: (1) can tolerate a certain amount of drift according towind conditions and (2) might be more limited by their ability to assess drift, rather than compensate forit, at least during returning flights.