Data from: Orographic lift shapes flight routes of gulls in virtually flat landscapes

Interactions between landscape and atmosphere result in a dynamic flight habitat which birds may use opportunistically to save energy during flight. However, their ability to utilise these dynamic landscapes and its influence on shaping movement paths is not well understood. We investigate the degree to which gulls utilise fine scale orographic lift created by wind deflected upwards over landscape features in a virtually flat landscape. Using accelerometer measurements and GPS tracking, soaring flight is identified and analysed with respect to orographic lift, modelled using high-resolution digital elevation models and wind measurements. The relationship between orographic lift and flight routes suggests gulls have advanced knowledge of their aerial surroundings and the benefits to be gained from them, even regarding small features such as tree lines. We show that in a landscape constantly influenced by anthropogenic change, the structure of our landscape has an aerial impact on flight route connectivity and costs.READMEREADME file outlining contents of data repositoryData_table_per_GPS_pointsData file containing the main part of data used in analysis, containing GPS and accelerometer data, annotated orographic lift measurements, weather measurements, equivalent random route positions and corresponding annotated orographic lift and weather measurements.Seasonal_orographic_lift.csvData of seasonal orographic lift per cell (corresponding to Figure 4a)Proportion_soaring.csvData file of time spent in low altitude soaring per cell as a fraction of time spent in flight (corresponding to Figure 4b