Frigate dame remain aloft for month at a time , and they fly over hundreds of kilometer a day . According to a newSciencestudy , by take advantage of updraft , clouds , and other atmospheric circumstance , these extreme birds spend very small Energy Department during their transoceanic flight of steps .
Great frigates ( Fregata nonaged ) are seabirds , yet they do n’t have weewee - repellent feathers and their leg are very modest . That mean they avoid landing on the surface of the water , even though they prey exclusively at sea . They lot with these constrains by rest incessantly airborne for 24-hour interval as they forage from their nest during breeding season . Frigates also have the long menstruation of parental forethought seen in birds – suggesting that their flying abilities take a farsighted prison term to get wind . But exactly how these birds are able to fly for long periods and space stay a bit of a closed book .
A squad led by Henri Weimerskirch of CNRS outfit dozens of adult and juvenile person on Europa Island near Madagascar with solar - power transmitters between 2011 and 2015 . These various information - loggers measured nub pace , flap frequency , amphetamine , acceleration , temperature , emplacement , and altitude .
Breeding frigates travel 410 kilometers ( 255 miles ) a day on average during two- to 15 - solar day foraging trip . Then , during the southwest Amerind monsoon from June to October , adult frigates finishing the breeding season forget Europa and migrate northward to roost internet site in the Seychelles , where they forage for month . immature frigate allow their cradle the same sentence as their parent , but they cross the equator , bend eastward , and take short respite on Chagos or Indonesian islets as they circle the full Indian Ocean .
Migrating adults stayed unceasingly on the fender for up to 48 day , traveling an average of 420 kilometers ( 260 statute mile ) every day . juvenile stay put aloft for periods lasting up to 2.1 month , go an average of 450 kilometers ( 280 Roman mile ) day by day .
frigate quell aloft during their transoceanic flights by following the edges of a mostly windless zone call the doldrums , then taking advantage of favorable winds and strong convection . For shorter , local flights , the shuttle are able to hang glide and circulate upward to cumulus clouds thanks to updraft created by quick , rising strain : They can ascend up to 1,600 meters ( 5,250 feet ) without flap their offstage , at rate of up to 5 meters ( 16.4 feet ) a arcsecond . Then they just glide for kilometers until they find their next cloud .
Most remain at ALT where very little flapping is needed to stay aloft , somewhere between 30 to 2,000 meters ( 98 to 6,560 animal foot ) , and they throw off down to the sea aerofoil just to skim for fair game . Sometimes they ’re completely motionless while airborne . These point likely correspond with sopor , and they last between two and 12 minutes .
Weimerskirch release a juvenile dandy frigatebird after tagging . Aurelien Prudor CEBC CNRS
persona in the school text : Young juvenile frigatebird . Aurelien Prudor CEBC CNRS
