Howdy, friends.  This week’s bird is the Desertas Petrel.  This is a small seabird which nests only in the Portugese owned Desertas Islands off the coast of Morocco.  The islands are a nature preserve, and official permission is needed to visit.  Because the birds are so rare and widely spread out, their taxonomic status (genetic relationship to other petrels) is somewhat in doubt.  What isn’t in doubt is that this bird is not messing around.  The kinds of fish, squid and crustaceans it likes to eat typically spend their time hundreds to thousands of feet below the surface of the sea, coming to shallower waters at night to feed.  But the Desertas Petrel doesn’t have time for things like circadian rhythms or the rotation of the earth.  No, recent studies have shown that the Desertas Petrel follows hurricanes across the Atlantic ocean, counting on the monster storms to churn their prey closer to the surface.  Not only do these birds fly thousands of miles over the sea in search of food, they brave 100kph winds and eight meter high waves.  That’s 24(ish) feet!  I found a study in Nature that seems to indicate that the birds may spend part of the year in South America.  What it surely does show, is that the birds range across the entire Atlantic ocean from latitudes north of Newfoundland to the south of Brazil, all while using their tiny island home off the coast of Africa as a base.  As always, there is a link to the study and all of the sources I used this week below.  One in particular is a BBC article about the study that found the reason behind the bird’s previously unaccountable flight patterns, if you’re in the mood for more info but not quite for a whole-ass academic paper. Have a good weekend!

Links: https://tinyurl.com/f6f3xmb6, https://tinyurl.com/4z9fxed3, https://tinyurl.com/2vdjbx8w (BBC), https://tinyurl.com/3zh3e9k8, https://tinyurl.com/4ntz9wp4