Red-footed boobies have been filmed catching flying fish in mid-air for the first time, offering new insight into how these striking-looking seabirds feed and navigate the vast Indian Ocean.
Scientists fitted tiny, lightweight cameras to two red-footed boobies (Sula sula) living around a remote group of islands within the Chagos Archipelago Marine Protected Area in the central Indian Ocean. The footage shows the birds swooping just above the waves, plucking flying fish from the air. Of 15 recorded feeding attempts, 14 were made mid-flight.
“The cameras recorded footage of the birds catching flying fish just above the surface of the water, while on the wing,” says Dr Ruth Dunn, researcher at Lancaster University and lead author of the study, published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
“We suspected this happened, but this is the first time that we’ve had bird-borne footage like this showing them foraging and catching fish mid-air. It could suggest they are catching a significant portion of their diet in this way,” Dunn adds.
Alongside the cameras, the team equipped a further 18 red-footed boobies with GPS trackers to try and learn more about how the birds travel over hundreds of kilometres of open ocean in search of prey. The data showed that the birds rely heavily on wind patterns to move efficiently across the sea.
With long, narrow wings suited for gliding, red-footed boobies take advantage of crosswinds and tailwinds, especially when heading out to hunt. These winds allow the birds to fly faster while conserving energy, reducing the need to flap their wings.
Interestingly, while some seabirds such as albatrosses struggle to catch prey in high winds, red-footed boobies appear to thrive. The researchers believe this may be an adaptation to the patchy, unpredictable distribution of flying fish in tropical oceans.
“We found that the birds foraged in windy conditions and we think that this might be because flying fish are able to glide in the air for longer in these conditions, making them more accessible to the boobies,” says Dunn.
Co-author Professor Stephen Votier says, “This is the first step in helping us to understand more about how wind influences the behaviour and distribution of tropical seabirds.
“By gaining a clearer understanding of such environmental effects will enable us to predict how they will cope in the future.”
Find out more about the study: Commuting in crosswinds and foraging in fast winds: the foraging ecology of a flying fish specialist
Top image: red-footed booby hunting flying fish. Credit: Ruth Dunn
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