54
Weather radar shows birds trapped inside the eye of Hurricane Helene. (www.vox.com)
submitted 2 months ago by lemmee_in@lemm.ee to c/earthscience@mander.xyz
2 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Birds are incredible navigators, capable of traveling thousands of miles each year to the same location. But sometimes even they end up in the wrong place at the wrong time — like inside a hurricane.

As Hurricane Helene was making landfall in Florida as a powerful Category 4 storm, radar spotted a mass in the eye of the storm that experts say is likely birds and perhaps also insects.

Seabirds likely fled the storm’s extreme winds — which reached 140 miles per hour — and ended up in the eye, where it’s calm. Once inside, they essentially got trapped, unable to pierce through the fierce gusts of the eye wall.

Storms like Helene can blow seabirds like petrels, jaegers, and frigatebirds far inland. Exhausted, they end up in unfamiliar habitats where they can’t easily find food. “It’s a challenging situation,” said Andrew Farnsworth, a bird migration expert at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. “We know that birds do die in these things.”

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] vxx@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago

Birdnado

this post was submitted on 29 Sep 2024
54 points (98.2% liked)

Earth, Environment, and Geosciences

1842 readers
2 users here now

Welcome to c/EarthScience @ Mander.xyz!

Notice Board

This is a work in progress, please don't mind the mess.

What is geoscience?

Geoscience (also called Earth Science) is the study of Earth. Geoscience includes so much more than rocks and volcanoes, it studies the processes that form and shape Earth's surface, the natural resources we use, and how water and ecosystems are interconnected. Geoscience uses tools and techniques from other science fields as well, such as chemistry, physics, biology, and math! Read more...

Quick Facts

Rules

  1. Don't throw mud. Be kind and remember the human.
  2. Keep it rooted (on topic).
  3. No spam.

Jobs

Teaching Resources

Tools

Climate

Similar Communities

Sister Communities

Science and Research

Biology and Life Sciences

Plants & Gardening

Physical Sciences

Humanities and Social Sciences

Memes

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
fossilesque@mander.xyz
mishathings@mander.xyz
notsofunnycomment@mander.xyz
SciBot@mander.xyz
troyunrau@lemmy.ca