7 October 2025
We consider hurricanes as very harmful and really devastating however there’s a pigeon-sized seabird, the Desertas petrel (Pterodroma deserta), who nests throughout hurricane season as a result of it chases hurricanes to feed its chick.
Excessive on a rocky plateau [on Bugio Island], one small nocturnal seabird is nestled in its burrow, the place far beneath waves lap gently towards the cliffs. Within the blackness of night time, it senses a storm brewing 1,000 miles (1609km) from the coast of Morocco.
— BBC: Riders on the storm: The birds that fly into hurricanes
Bugio Island is effectively located for chasing hurricanes, all of that are born as tropical depressions off the coast of Africa, journey west to the Americas, then swing north.
When scientists put knowledge trackers on Desertas petrels and tracked them for 5 years, 2015-2019, they discovered:
Desertas petrels make a few of the longest foraging journeys ever recorded in any species – touring so far as 12,000km (7,460 miles) over deep, pelagic waters – all the best way from Africa, to the New England coast and again once more.
— BBC: Riders on the storm: The birds that fly into hurricanes
Not like most seabirds who circumnavigate hurricanes or attempt to keep inside the attention of the storm, the Desertas petrel actively chases hurricanes, braves unimaginable winds, and captures meals churned to the ocean’s floor within the wake of the hurricane.
They put themselves precisely in the correct place on the proper time to be run over by a hurricane.
BBC: Riders on the storm: The birds that fly into hurricanes. Quote from Francesco Ventura, Woods Gap.
Each dad and mom forage, partially digest the meals including abdomen oil, then regurgitate it into the chick’s mouth after they attain the burrow.
Likelihood is good that Desertas petrels had been on the market within the North Atlantic foraging within the wake of Imelda and Humberto final week.
Sadly this wonderful seabird is Susceptible to extinction. There are solely 200 breeding pairs on the planet.
