Birds hear tornadoes a day ahead of time, fly 750 kilometers to safety

Alessandra Kelley

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http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-30531060

A group of golden-winged warblers which were being tracked by researchers had just settled into their Appalachian nesting area after a 5,000 kilometer migration from Columbia when the huge tornado outbreak hit last April.

Only they weren't there any more. The tracking showed they had all split, probably for the Gulf of Mexico, 700 kilometers away, one or two days before the tornadoes hit their area.

Within a few days they were back at their nesting site. The trackers showed they had flown at least 1500 kilometers over those few days.

Tornadoes make extremely low frequency noises that birds can hear at great distances. When the warblers left Appalachia the local weather was clear and the nearest tornado was hundreds of miles away, but they seem to have detected the size of the oncoming weather and flown a remarkable distance to avoid it.

The new study is the first time that migratory birds have been seen taking such dramatic evasive action.

"We know that birds can alter their route to avoid things during regular migration," Dr Streby explained. "But it hadn't been shown until our study that they would leave once the migration is over, and they'd established their breeding territory, to escape severe weather."
 

Xelebes

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Low frequency sensitivity makes no sense, given that they sense the danger a day before it happens. I'm thinking that they sense pressure and humidity shelves that make way for violent weather.
 

Alessandra Kelley

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The story said there were tornadoes already, but hundreds of miles away.

I am given to understand that low frequency sounds can travel pretty far.

But you could be right. It's not my area of expertise.
 

ULTRAGOTHA

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A tornado a hundred miles away almost always has no bearing on here. Tornadoes rarely last that long.

A storm cell capable of creating tornados a hundred miles away is a concern. But actual tornados at that distance? I'd need to see more evidence.
 

Jamesaritchie

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That makes no sense whatsoever. Tornadoes on the ground that far away are no threat. Tornadoes simply don't last that long, they vanish as quickly as they start, and they do not reappear. No bird, or person, was ever harmed by a tornado that happened a day ago.

If anything, the birds sensed the barometric change that precedes such a storm front, just as many animals and fled, and fled, just as many animals do. But saying they heard tornadoes a day away simply makes zero sense.

For that matter, they could have moved for one of a hundred reasons having nothing whatsoever to do with the storm front.
 

Ken

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I use birds to determine weather at times. If you spot a number of them flying away, rather frantically, that usually means something is up.
 

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I use birds to determine weather at times. If you spot a number of them flying away, rather frantically, that usually means something is up.
Yup. I've heard that piece of folklore, in the form of 'Seagulls flying inland means a storm is coming', and it's often true (gulls, crows, I only work with big, easily identifiable birds:D)especially if the bird is flying unusually low.
 

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Wouldn't help me. I'm as inland as you can get in this country and we've got loads of seagulls.
 

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We can learn a lot from paying attention to the natural world. While I believe the article, I have to agree with those who think the birds were responding to the approaching storm cell. It's great that the researchers caught that.

I have a friend who I believe is a total genius. As a wildlife biologist, he watches nature. Because he watches and knows their natural ways, he can predict earthquakes to some degree. He's told me and Hubby about it, just watch for things that aren't right.

Last September, we were at our cabin outside. He and I both saw this brilliant red butterfly. It was stunning and I only saw it for a second. Then it vanished, like it was my imagination. But John had seen it too.

He stared into space for several seconds and muttered, "I heard the poor-wills making their mating call this morning." (Keep in mind, this is September in the mountains.) He turned to me, looked me square in the eye and said, "We'll have an earthquake within ten days."

The next morning, this happened.
 

Xelebes

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A recent study also uncovered how birds hear: through their hollow arch in their head. Sauropsids (birds and reptiles) have a hollow arch which is filled with flesh that scientists are discovering that sauropsids use to aid them in hearing. I would think that these hollow arches are also a more sensitive sense of ambient pressure than synapsid (mammal) noses and ears that they use to sense impending danger such as storms.
 

Ken

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Yup. I've heard that piece of folklore, in the form of 'Seagulls flying inland means a storm is coming', and it's often true (gulls, crows, I only work with big, easily identifiable birds:D)especially if the bird is flying unusually low.

So true with seagulls. Always come inland when there's a storm brewing. Haven't noticed that with crows. With them they seem to just go where there aren't any people. Intelligent ! (Seagulls are big birds. Some, really so. Neat bird.) Miranda is lucky to have them always about.
 

frimble3

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So true with seagulls. Always come inland when there's a storm brewing. Haven't noticed that with crows. With them they seem to just go where there aren't any people. Intelligent ! (Seagulls are big birds. Some, really so. Neat bird.) Miranda is lucky to have them always about.
I tend to notice the crows because there are a couple of big rookeries near me, one right near my workplace, and their behavior is more noticeable en masse.
They'll all be sheltering in the big cedars across the road, trying to get deep enough to be protected from the rain, then, all of a sudden, they take off, and a few seconds later, rumble of thunder and lightning flashes. Apparently crows tell their kids what we tell ours: don't stand under trees in thunderstorms, or the lightning will get you.
 

Ken

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Except when they swoop down and nick the food out of your hand.

Now that is too cute :)
Of course if it's your own food that's a different story.

I tend to notice the crows because there are a couple of big rookeries near me, one right near my workplace, and their behavior is more noticeable en masse.
They'll all be sheltering in the big cedars across the road, trying to get deep enough to be protected from the rain, then, all of a sudden, they take off, and a few seconds later, rumble of thunder and lightning flashes. Apparently crows tell their kids what we tell ours: don't stand under trees in thunderstorms, or the lightning will get you.

Rookeries. Wow. Very cool. I wonder where they fly to, when leaving the cedars? If you're into crows and YA this is a pretty cool read:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0064401316/?tag=absowrit-20
 

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When we were little kids, our dad taught us to be careful and watchful on hot summer days. Back then, tornadoes were a serious threat in Chicago—not so much nowadays. Anyway, Pop told us to note the color of the sky (greenish tint) and then to listen for the birds. Their eerie absence usually meant trouble, and a couple of times all of us kids scattered and got home safely in the nick of time thanks to my dad's advice.
 

mirandashell

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Now that is too cute :)
Of course if it's your own food that's a different story.

It's not cute when it's a pasty that you've just paid £2 for and all you've got left is the rim.....
 

Xelebes

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When we were little kids, our dad taught us to be careful and watchful on hot summer days. Back then, tornadoes were a serious threat in Chicago—not so much nowadays. Anyway, Pop told us to note the color of the sky (greenish tint) and then to listen for the birds. Their eerie absence usually meant trouble, and a couple of times all of us kids scattered and got home safely in the nick of time thanks to my dad's advice.

Green cloud here is indicative of hail. I live near the hail belt (Red Deer Region) so that is what it means for us. Black-out clouds are indicative of very severe thunderstorms that get us all antsy here. We remember Black Friday (July 31, 1987.)
 

Alessandra Kelley

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Green clouds still mean tornado weather in Chicago.

The city nowadays has a siren system to send people to their basements. It's tested at 10AM the first Tuesday of every month, which can be a bit disconcerting to visitors.
 

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This is an interesting observation, but it's one incident, and it brings to mind the old "correlation doesn't mean causation" issue. It's possible that the birds did this because of the oncoming storms, and if so, they must have picked up on something. We can't say for sure what it was they detected, however. It's also possible that they took off for some other reason and the oncoming storms were simply a coincidence.

But what these kinds of observations are good for is hypothesis formation. As scientists continue to track these, and other groups of warblers (and maybe other bird species too), they will hopefully collect more data that will put the various proposed explanations for this event to the test.

I've gotten to the point where nothing really surprises me about birds anymore. When I was in school, the consensus was still that birds were dumb and did everything by rote and instinct, because the parts of the brain associated with higher cognition in mammals are very small in birds. But they've discovered in recent years that birds (especially members of the crow and parrot families, but others too) are true problem solvers that put all but the smartest mammals to shame. They use different brain structures to achieve this.

They also have some remarkable physiological adaptations and tend to live quite a lot longer than mammals of comparable size, and they have a great deal of what's called neural plasticity (they can even regenerate nerve cells). They do possess senses we lack, and we can learn a lot from studying them.
 
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Jamesaritchie

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I use birds to determine weather at times. If you spot a number of them flying away, rather frantically, that usually means something is up.

Yes, but it could be one of a hundred things, none of which may be weather related.
 

Jamesaritchie

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Back then, tornadoes were a serious threat in Chicago—not so much nowadays. .

Why not? I live not all that far from Chicago, two hundred miles, and tornadoes are a bigger danger now than they were forty years ago. We had thirty-six in one night not very long ago.

Chicago has always been a little north of the alley, but it's still in severe danger often. I know one worry is that Chicago residents think the risk is low, and the National Weather Service considers them unprepared because of this.
 

Jamesaritchie

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Green clouds still mean tornado weather in Chicago.

The city nowadays has a siren system to send people to their basements. It's tested at 10AM the first Tuesday of every month, which can be a bit disconcerting to visitors.

Our sirens go off every Friday at noon. I keep wondering what will happen if we have a tornado at that time?

Not that it matters. Tornadoes are common enough here that the sirens sound off five or six or fifteen times every tornado season. So often that people stopped being afraid long ago. When they go off, people flock outside and try to see the thing coming. We had one lop part of the roof off a neighbor's house about forty thirty yards from our own, and then skip away across a corn field. Another leapfrogged over us, did the same to an apartment complex about two hundred yards down the road.

I live is a city of about 17,000, but it's been hit several times. It was almost destroyed by a tornado back in 1918, but it's been sideswiped at least a dozen times in my lifetime. We had thirty-six in one night not long ago, and I think our all time record is forty-eight tornadoes in one night in our area.

Fortunately, this is farm country, with miles and miles of nothing but farm fields and woods, so the chances of a tornado hitting people are pretty slim. We have had some severe ones, though, and a couple of small towns almost completely destroyed over the years.

California is the land of the earthquake, but we often have people visiting from California, and tornadoes scare the bejeebers out of them. I guess it's all what you're used to.
 

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When I was in school, the consensus was still that birds were dumb and did everything by rote and instinct, because the parts of the brain associated with higher cognition in mammals are very small in birds. ....
They use different brain structures.

I keep wondering why we keep comparing apples with oranges - it seems so obvious that birds function different from mammals, as do reptiles, as do insects, as do plants. In a similar vein, I find the question of how intelligent other species are rather ludicruous - my take is that each species is obviously equipped with exactly the kind of intelligence it needs to thrive in its particular niche, because it couldn't survive otherwise. If a different kind of intelligence were necessary, that species would possess it - so if it doesn't, it's for a vital reason.

Comparing the intelligence of other species to human intelligence seems so utterly pointless and nonsensical to me (hello, apples and oranges?). We're so limited in our understanding of other species and their lives (especially their inner, mental and emotional lives) because we only know what it is to be human.
 

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Why not? I live not all that far from Chicago, two hundred miles, and tornadoes are a bigger danger now than they were forty years ago. We had thirty-six in one night not very long ago.

Chicago has always been a little north of the alley, but it's still in severe danger often. I know one worry is that Chicago residents think the risk is low, and the National Weather Service considers them unprepared because of this.

I purposefully said Chicago and not "the Chicago area" because the suburbs/outlying areas have often taken the brunt of tornadoes in the past. In my lifetime, the inner city has rarely taken a direct hit. I'm not counting the frightening experience of seeing the torrential downpours and thunder/lightning that accompany tornadoes—I'm talking about actual touchdowns (not football, LOL!) and people reporting that they heard the "freight train" sound as the funnel passed close by.

The worst tornado in my lifetime occurred around 1967, and several homes were damaged in the city (including my neighborhood); Oak Lawn really got hit. I also seem to remember another one some years later that caused some damage, but not as much as the 1967 tornado. The last tornado scare I can remember was around 1980.
 
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Jamesaritchie

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I purposefully said Chicago and not "the Chicago area" because the suburbs/outlying areas have often taken the brunt of tornadoes in the past. In my lifetime, the inner city has rarely taken a direct hit. I'm not counting the frightening experience of seeing the torrential downpours and thunder/lightning that accompany tornadoes—I'm talking about actual touchdowns (not football, LOL!) and people reporting that they heard the "freight train" sound as the funnel passed close by.

The worst tornado in my lifetime occurred around 1967, and several homes were damaged in the city (including my neighborhood); Oak Lawn really got hit. I also seem to remember another one some years later that caused some damage, but not as much as the 1967 tornado. The last tornado scare I can remember was around 1980.

Sure, but this is what worries the NWS. The odds of Chicago central getting hit are the same as those surrounding areas getting hit. You can go fifty years without a hit, or a hundred years without a hit, and then get five per year for the next decade.

If you live anywhere near tornado alley, it's really just a matter of luck.