This is Bird Note.

I'm Adee-Benzlahadine, and in June of 2022, I worked as a volunteer research assistant on a tiny island off the coast of Maine with the National Audubon Seabird Institute.

This was during peak hatch, the busiest time of the year at these breeding colonies.

Common turns are the predominant species here, and thousands of them were emerging from their eggs.

It's a very noisy place.

But every once in a while, particularly in the evenings, the chorus would suddenly go

dead silent as every adult turn dove over the rocky cliffs, deserting their young.

Then, rising on air currents, they'd return.

This strange behavior is called dreading, and it's not clear why turns do it.

At first, I thought it was a response to a predator, but often there's no threat to be seen.

Some researchers have suggested it's a form of social bonding for the flock,

to help them coordinate flight patterns for long-distance migratory journeys.

Or, maybe, it's just for fun.

If that's the case, it must be pretty entertaining,

because turns will stop whatever they're doing to join the dread,

even if that means they're hungry chicks,

we'll have to wait a few extra seconds for dinner time.

Learn more about dreading at birdnote.org.

I'm Aday Ben-Slawadine.