Date: October 21, 2016
Source: Swedish University of
Agricultural Sciences (SLU)
It is well-known that birds can
fly, swim and walk, but now there is scientific evidence that birds also can
windsurf. Olle Terenius from the Department of Ecology at the Swedish
University of Agricultural Sciences reports that the Mute swan occasionally
uses the wings as sails when moving quickly on water surfaces.
In the latest issue of The Wilson
Journal of Ornithology Olle Terenius describes how he on three occasions has
observed Mute swans windsurfing. That is travelling at high speed several
hundred meters on the water surface with the help of the wind. Windsurfing
swans have been sighted in 1999, 2014 and 2015 at three different locations in
Sweden.
"This leads me to believe
that the phenomenon is not confined to a particular place or a few birds. I
hope this article makes more people become aware of windsurfing Mute swans and
that we get a better picture of how widespread the behavior is when other
people start reporting this phenomenon," says Olle Terenius.
The experts, with deep insights
into the literature of Mute swans, who reviewed the article and the
supplemented film, were unaware that the Mute swans can move in this way.
"I think the reason that
this is missing in the literature is that ornithologists who are out in the
field only quickly note that they see a Mute swan and write it down on the list
of bird observations, while the general public has observed windsurfing swans
thinking that this is already a well-known phenomenon," says Olle
Terenius.
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