Rapid east-west flights may nudge Manx shearwaters off course

Researchers studying 1,837 GPS-tracked homeward flights found Manx shearwaters veered by up to 15 degrees in a pattern consistent with a sun compass disrupted by rapid east-west travel, Science News reports. The detours added only a few kilometers, and the birds still found their way home. University of Oxford researcher Patrick Lewin, quoted by New Scientist, distinguishes the proposed clock shift from the health effects people associate with jet lag.