Soaring over open waters: horizontal winds provide lift to soaring migrants in weak thermal conditions

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F62157124%3A16270%2F23%3A43880696" target="_blank" >RIV/62157124:16270/23:43880696 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="https://movementecologyjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40462-023-00438-6" target="_blank" >https://movementecologyjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40462-023-00438-6</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s40462-023-00438-6" target="_blank" >10.1186/s40462-023-00438-6</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Soaring over open waters: horizontal winds provide lift to soaring migrants in weak thermal conditions

Original language description

Background For soaring birds, the ability to benefit from variable airflow dynamics is crucial, especially while crossing natural barriers such as vast water bodies during migration. Soaring birds also take advantage of warm rising air, so-called thermals, that allow birds to ascend passively to higher altitudes with reduced energy costs. Although it is well known that soaring migrants generally benefit from supportive winds and thermals, the potential of uplifts and other weather factors enabling soaring behavior remains unsolved.Methods In this study, we GPS-tracked 19 Red Kites, Milvus milvus, from the Central European population that crossed the Adriatic Sea on their autumn migration. Migratory tracks were annotated with weather data (wind support, side wind, temperature difference between air and surface-proxy for thermal uplift, cloud cover, and precipitation) to assess their effect on Red Kites&apos; decisions and soaring performance along their migration across the Adriatic Sea and land.Results Wind support affected the timing of crossing over the Adriatic Sea. We found that temperature differences and horizontal winds positively affected soaring sea movement by providing lift support in otherwise weak thermals. Furthermore, we found that the soaring patterns of tracked raptors were affected by the strength and direction of prevailing winds.Conclusion Thanks to modern GPS-GSM telemetry devices and available data from online databases, we explored the effect of different weather variables on the occurrence of soaring behavior and soaring patterns of migratory raptors. We revealed how wind affected the soaring pattern and that tracked birds could soar in weak thermals by utilizing horizontal winds, thus reducing energy costs of active flapping flight over vast water bodies.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

J_imp - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database

CEP classification

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OECD FORD branch

10615 - Ornithology

Project

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Continuities

I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Publication year

2023

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

Movement ecology

ISSN

2051-3933

e-ISSN

2051-3933

Volume of the periodical

11

Issue of the periodical within the volume

1

Country of publishing house

GB - UNITED KINGDOM

Number of pages

12

Pages from-to

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UT code for WoS article

001118798400001

EID of the result in the Scopus database

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