Scientists say magnetic storms forced birds to change migration

When seasonal migrations of birds and other animals take place, they are guided by the geomagnetic field. However, coronal mass ejections on the Sun regularly provoke Earth's magnetic storms, which can temporarily disrupt the process of bird navigation on long-distance flights.

This was reported by researchers from the University of Michigan and several other US universities. They found evidence of a relationship between the dynamics of nighttime bird migration and geomagnetic disturbances.

In the paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the scientists used data from a large network of Doppler weather radars in the United States. This long-term array characterizes the dynamics of the night migration of birds living in North America over 22 years of research.

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The sample included 1.7 million radar images taken in the fall and 1.4 million in the spring. They were compared with the readings of ground-based magnetometers located near the weather radars to determine the local magnetic disturbance index.

According to the experts, "flights with effort" against the wind decreased especially significantly in cloudy weather during strong solar storms. We can conclude that the navigation of migratory birds was hampered by two factors at once: the deterioration of the visibility of celestial landmarks and magnetic storms.

"Our results show that fewer birds migrate during strong geomagnetic disturbances. They probably have more difficulty navigating, especially in cloudy weather in the fall. This is manifested in the fact that birds can spend less effort on active flight in the right direction and move more with the wind," explained Eric R. Gulson-Castillo lead, author of the scientific paper.

Scientists have previously found that African mammals such as elephants, rhinos, and zebras are much more afraid of hearing human voices than lions' vocalizations or even hunting sounds.

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