how seabirds catch food | 16728,000 images that, once collated by Yutaka Watanuki, showed the alba-
trosses to be feeding on large dead floating squid.* On average the birds
flew 291 km between encountering squid, which were apparently de-
tected only at short distances. Thus, after flying straight for many kilo-
metres, the birds altered direction just a minute or two before landing
at the squid. This is a very different strategy to that of the numerous
seabirds reliant on finding patches of abundance, and remaining within
the patch.
During the night, the Wanderers’ tactics change. The birds are more
likely to be on the water, floating and possibly waiting quietly for a
squid to come within range of the fierce 17 cm bill innocently coloured
pale Barbie- pink.^4 This contrast in hunting style is reflected in the squid
caught; larger non- bioluminescent species by day, smaller biolumines-
cent species by night. Then around half the squid caught weigh under
100 g.^5 However, Rory Wilson, an extraordinarily inventive pioneer of
the tracking technology^6 that has made this narrative possible and now
a Professor at Swansea University, wondered whether the albatrosses
are actually doing something smarter than merely sitting and waiting for
- (^) Many squid species die after reproducing, the male after mating, the female after releasing
her eggs.
Carrying a camera on its belly, a Laysan Albatross
from Hawaii grabs a squid in the middle of the
Pacific Ocean (© Bungo Nishizawa).