Birds May Have Sensed Severe Storms Days in Advance The sudden departure of golden-winged warblers before deadly tornadoes has blown away scientists. Earlier this year, a group of scientists studying golden-winged warblers in Tennessee noticed something odd: The birds had taken a sudden detour from their breeding grounds. Analysis of the data revealed that the birds took off for Florida several days in advance of a large, severe thunderstorm system that was advancing across the Great Plains. A new study suggests that these warblers detected the severe weather and got the heck out of the way—an ability never before documented in birds. (Read "Birds Can 'See' Earth's Magnetic Field.") The scientists theorize the birds were tipped off by infrasound—a type of low-frequency noise—produced by the storms. Although humans can't hear infrasound, birds can, and the destructive nature of these storms may make it advantageous for the birds to get out of the way despite the high-energy costs of flight. "We were completely blown away by this behavior. It shows that the birds can do more than we give them credit for," said study co-author Gunnar Kramer, a population ecologist at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. Survivors embrace amid the devastation of a tornado that hit Vilonia, Arkansas, on April 29, 2014. Photograph by Mark Wilson, Getty Mysterious Flight Kramer and his colleagues happened upon the discovery by accident, while studying migration patterns of golden-winged warblers. (Also see "The Case of the Golden-Winged Warbler.") The songbird spends winters in Central and South America and migrates to the Great Lakes region and the Appalachians to breed and raise young. To learn more details about this behavior, the team traveled to the Great Lakes and fitted some of the warblers with a small, lightweight geolocator that recorded their exact locations every few minutes, according to the study, published December 18 in the journal Current Biology. In April 2014, the researchers tracked the birds to the Cumberland Mountains of eastern Tennessee to check on them. But when they arrived, the mountains were silent. Their warblers weren't there. (See National Geographic's backyard birds identifier.) "We thought the birds were just hunkering down. It never occurred to me that they might have evacuated," Kramer said. When the team checked on the warblers' locations via their geolocators, they discovered the birds were in Florida. One bird had even traveled to Cuba. Several days later, however, the birds flew back to Tennessee, having mysteriously traveled more than 900 miles (1,500 kilometers) round-trip. A chance look at a weather report gave scientists their hint—right around the time the birds left Tennessee, a severe weather system clobbered the Midwest, spawning 84 tornadoes that killed at least 35 people. (Related: "Pictures: Social Media Capture Tornado Destruction.") However, the scientists emphasize in the study that it's unknown exactly why the birds veered from their migration route in April 2014, and that the storms' infrasound was a "probable cue" to escape. To Jonathan Hagstrum, a geophysicist at the United States Geological Survey who studies bird migration, the new research supports the idea that birds use infrasound during migration. (Read about animal migrations.) "These results show another way that birds can use low-frequency sound," said Hagstrum, who wasn't involved in the new study. "They're not just using it to navigate, but to identify and avoid severe weather. It all fits in," he said. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/...eather-tornadoes-science-animals-environment/
I don't understand why scientist would be blown away because birds can sense a storm coming. It would seem to just confirm that they likey have a built in altimeter. Since an altimeter is just another word for a device to sense atmospheric pressure. I guess it shows, you need more than one scientist collaborating to get the real scoop. In this case, perhaps a aviologist, and what ever a Tornado studier is. In any case, the barometer drops like hell when a Hurricane or a Tornado approach. Makes sense since the counterclockwise rotating wind is like a big vacuum cleaner, sucking the lower warm air up and out of there. Of course the machine runs in the opposite direction in the southern hemisphere, but no matter to the birds North or South.
The scientists theorize the birds were tipped off by infrasound—a type of low-frequency noise—produced by the storms. Although humans can't hear infrasound, birds can, and the destructive nature of these storms may make it advantageous for the birds to get out of the way despite the high-energy costs of flight.
I suppose it could be, but I wouldn't think that would be the most obvious signal. So why go there first?
You're not a scientist? Fun fact, infrasound has military applications. http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2012-11/acoustic-weapons-book-excerpt https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonic_weapon
I heard that exact phrase many times back in the day when I was the analyst consultant to scientific laboratories around the country. The guys that said it usually had more to follow when they perceived the moment. It was fun. One guy (an Astrophysicist) decided to to blow me (and his boss) away with his knowledge of prime numbers. and the significance of such in setting up a virtual mapping of the Universe in their database. After awhile, I asked him if the divisor in the distribution algorithm was really dependent on being a prime number? Not waiting for the answer, I ask, isn't it true that the significance of the using prime number only came when very large numbers were involved, up in the order of approaching infinite? And if this is true, then we do not need to worry about it, since his boss would have no possibility of buying that much storage with in the next 100 years? By then he would have this issue completely resolved. The Palo Alto marketing rep close the sale shortly there after. I had no idea that storage would be so cheap and so large as it is today, but the assumption is still true. The most fun though was working Oceanography stuff at Scripps.
I just read this thread from top to bottom. I made the biggest mistake in the history of Western Civilization.
I can't wait until the real debates start. Its going to comical how bad Trump gets sliced and diced. That first debate was more of an introduction to the lousy GOP candidates more than anything. Trump, your lawyers can't pussyfoot around amendments.
Would it be OK? No. It was not OK then and it is not OK now to fantasize about raping a woman or child or for that matter a man. It would be especially not OK for Trump as he is now running for president and hence knows he is being scrutinized. It would show such an extreme lack of judgment as to disqualify him. It is still not the same as committing an actual rape. Moreover, if you read Sanders' essay (did you?) he was NOT writing about HIS fantasies about raping a woman or a child. He was writing about the idea of such fantasies and why they exist. Am I pro gun control on psychological profiles? Not sure what you mean.
