One of the pleasures of a trip to the beach is watching pelicans and other birds gliding above the waves as they break along the shoreline.

Even on still days, they stay aloft without flapping their wings. A paper in the journal Movement Ecology unravels the complicated physics behind the graceful maneuver.

Mechanical engineers at the University of California at San Diego wanted to know more about the birds’ moves. So they applied theories from physics and mechanical engineering to help determine how the birds interact with their environment.

It turns out the pelicans use updrafts generated by breaking ocean waves to stay aloft without flapping their wings. The waves help them save about 60 to 70 percent of the energy they would ordinarily use while flying steadily.

To unravel the physics behind the pelicans’ close-to-shore soaring, the scientists created a theoretical model that quantifies how much wind is generated by a breaking wave.

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“This is an interesting project because it shows how the waves are actually moving the air around, making wind,” says co-author Ian Stokes, a PhD mechanical engineering student at UC San Diego who ultimately turned the study into his master’s thesis.

“If you’re a savvy bird, you can optimize how you move to track waves and to take advantage of these updrafts,” he said. “Since seabirds travel long distances to find food, the benefits may be significant.”

The research could benefit humans, too.

The scientists say the model they developed could be used to help generate algorithms to help drones fly over water more effectively for long periods of time. And since the model helps predict how much wind is generated by a passing wave, it could help weather forecasters become more accurate.

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