New research reveals how stormy conditions affect albatrosses’ ability to feed

Albatrosses are exceptionally mobile and use the wind to travel hundreds of thousands of miles to feed on squid, fish, or other animals found near the water surface in the open ocean.

In fact, some larger species of albatrosses are so reliant on the wind that they struggle to even take off when the conditions are calm.

Now, a new international study led by researchers from the University of Liverpool’s School of Environmental Science, reveals that that there is an upper limit to the wind’s benefit.

In a paper published in the journal Current Biology, researchers find that despite being masterful fliers, two species of albatrosses struggled to eat during very stormy weather conditions which made finding food difficult or dangerous.

The research team analysed data collected at South Georgia in the southwest Atlantic Ocean. Using small tracking devices attached by researchers from the British Antarctic Survey, the team were able to measure when and where birds were resting, flying or eating.

In addition, they used satellite measurements of wind, rain and water clarity to see when birds encountered stormy conditions.

Jamie Darby, lead author of the paper while at University of Liverpool, now based at the University College Cork, said: “This combination of data is a very powerful tool for understanding how albatrosses behave, especially when they are so difficult to observe directly.”

“On several occasions, we tracked wandering albatross flying in very strong storm winds. During these times, the logger data tell us that the albatrosses barely fed at all. Not only did they not manage to eat, but they also landed and took off more regularly.”

Dr Ewan Wakefield from Durham University, a coauthor on the study, explained this phenomenon: “The albatrosses seem to avoid severe winds by landing on the water, but then cannot rest for long, probably because such strong wind would cause waves to break over them regularly.”

Wandering albatrosses have the largest wingspan of any bird, up to 3.4m, adapted for efficient flight in Southern Ocean winds. Because of this adaptation, albatrosses have not been considered at risk from storms, which are predicted to become more frequent and severe in the Southern Ocean due to climate change. Recent research has questioned this assumption, showing several examples of albatrosses avoiding the strongest wind in storm systems.

University of Liverpool ecologist Dr Samantha Patrick, who is principal investigator of the project, added: “This study allows us to understand animal behaviour when they are in places and conditions that make it almost impossible for us to see them directly. This includes extreme weather, like Southern Ocean storms. Knowing what animals do in these conditions, and how they cope, is really important. It’s a way to figure out how they will be affected by changes in their environment.”

This new research shows that even these wind-adapted albatrosses might be disadvantaged by more widespread extreme winds, as they are more likely to encounter conditions that make finding food difficult or dangerous.

The paper `Strong winds reduce foraging success in albatrosses‘ (doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2024.10.018) is published in the journal Current Biology.

The international research team was led by the University of Liverpool and involved British Antarctic Survey (BAS), Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS), University of Coimbra, and Durham University.

This research was funded by the Natural Environmental Research Council (NERC) in the UK and the National Science Foundation (NSF) in the US.

IMAGE: Black-browed albatross in flight near Crozet Islands. Credit Samantha Patrick