By adopting a V-shaped flight formation, migratory birds actually save energy, as has long been suspected, reports Viennese researcher Elisa Perinot. Small updraft areas therefore form diagonally behind animals flying ahead.
In these ‘trail vortices’, following birds can make short gliding flights, make fewer muscle movements and have a lower heart rate, the scientist said. The study was published in the journal Proceedings B.
Two human foster parents hand-reared 32 northern bald ibis chicks that had hatched at a zoo in Carinthia. As young birds, they learned to fly behind light aircraft with their foster parents. The researchers led by Perinot (Konrad Lorenz Institute for Comparative Behavioural Research at the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna and the “Waldrappteam”) then organised a guided flight for them from Germany to their wintering grounds in southern Tuscany, Italy.
Birds equipped with measuring equipment
The young bald ibises had to cover 720 kilometers in seven day stages. They were equipped with extremely precise position, acceleration and heart rate meters.
“We used it to measure the energy expenditure of the birds, whether they were in the wake of another animal or not,” Perinot said. The movement speed measured by the accelerometers was lower when they flew in wake turbulence, she explained to the APA: “In this position, the birds conserved some energy.”
There too, the birds’ heart rates were more than four percent lower. They were also able to reduce the frequency of their wing beats when flying in such updraft areas. “Instead, they made short gliding flights,” the researcher said.
Source: Krone
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