The White-vented Storm-Petrel is a small black and white seabird found off the coasts of Chile and Peru. Storm-petrels spend their entire lives at sea, except when nesting. Scientists had long been mystified about just where this species nests. A search lasting eight years led them to a site 50 miles inland in the Atacama desert, a place often compared to the surface of Mars. They employed dogs specially trained to sniff out seabirds. The dogs helped locate White-vented Storm-Petrel nests tucked into mineral deposits deep in the desert. 

More info and transcript at BirdNote.org. 

Want more BirdNote? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Sign up for BirdNote+ to get ad-free listening and other perks. 

BirdNote is a nonprofit. Your tax-deductible gift makes these shows possible.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.