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(Phys.org)—A small team of researchers with members from France, the U.K., Canada and Germany has discovered that the great frigate bird (Fregata minor) is able to stay aloft for up to two months at a time. In their paper published in the journal Science, the team describes how they affixed trackers to several of the birds as part of a two-year study, what they found, and even offer some ideas on how the birds manage to sleep. Raymond Huey and Curtis Deutsch, with the University of Washington in Washington State, offer a Perspective piece on the work done by the team in the same journal issue.

To learn more about the birds, the group managed to capture several specimens during their infrequent and short stays on land—they held on to them just long enough to affix extremely lightweight transmitters that were capable of monitoring GPS positioning, altitude, heart rate and acceleration in any direction. That allowed them to track the movements of a variety of birds and how much energy they were exerting.

In analyzing the data, the researchers discovered that the birds were able to stay in the air so long for two reasons; the first is that the expend very little energy because they rely on updrafts to keep them aloft. The second reason is because when they do eat, they simply swoop down out of the air to catch a fish that has jumped out of the water to avoid a predator from below. They have to be careful though, because they do not have waterproof wings.

In charting their flight patterns, the team found that the birds travel incredible distances—sometimes covering up to 250 miles in a single day. They also found that the birds were able to take advantage of another type of updraft when need be, they would slip under a cumulus cloud and allow themselves to be very quickly pulled upward (up to 5 meters per second), without having to flap their wings a single time. Such sudden elevations could take them as high as 1,600 meters, where the air is extremely thin, and the temperature freezing. From there, they would glide down for hours, until reaching another updraft.

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