This is bird note.

Sailors once believed that Wilson's storm petrels foretold a dangerous tempest. The bird's dark wings and white-banded tail were an

omen of trouble on its way to the ship. Like many legends, there's probably a grain of truth.

Wilson's storm petrels are tiny seabirds weighing just over an ounce.

During a gale, hiding beside a large ship could provide a little shelter from the gusts.

Wilson's storm petrels occur in every ocean,

preferring cold salty water rich in plankton.

Their feet patter across the surface to stir up small prey items,

such as crill and small fish.

When traveling, they often glide on powerful ocean winds.

Wilson's storm petrels breed on the cliffs of islands in the southern oceans, South America, and Antarctica,

where they sometimes nest as far as 70 miles inland.

Unlike most seabirds, they raise their young in burrows,

perhaps giving them some security from predatorsuas and gulls. The storm petrel's reliance on cold salty water

for food could make them an early warning sign of sorts, though not in the way those sailors thought.

Climate change is altering ocean temperature and salinity.

Shifts in storm petrol feeding behavior on the surface may reflect changes in ocean conditions below.

For Bird Note, I'm Michael Stein.