Is "dynamically soaring" suitable as a bird identification feature?
I've never heard of a bird besides the Albatross which is able to use "Dynamic Soaring". Am I able to draw any conclusions out of this behavior? Like, can I say "it's definitely an Albatross" or "it's definitely a sea-bird" if I watch a bird dynamically soaring?
Dynamic soaring is a flying technique used to gain energy by repeatedly crossing the boundary between air masses of significantly different velocity.
These tubes allow the albatrosses to measure the exact airspeed in flight; the nostrils are analogous to the pitot tubes in modern aircraft. The albatross needs accurate airspeed measurement in order to perform dynamic soaring.
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Yes, you can use dynamically soaring as one variable in attempting identification, in addition to size, wing, body, beak, feet, etc. (all the usual ways of narrowing down your bird). But you can't just say "that's an albatross": the 4 families of order Procellariiformes consist of albatrosses, petrels and shearwaters, storm petrels, and diving petrels. They vary significantly in size, color pattern and shape.
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