A 'bird cam' captures a flock of albatrosses stalking a pod of killer whales so as to munch on the leftovers!

A "lipstick camera" along with thermal sensors and other "sci-fi stuff" was mounted on the back of an Antarctic albatross and this 'bird cam' captured a unique albatross hunting strategy never before seen.

From Wired Magazine:

Albatrosses often have to fly hundreds of miles in just a few days in order to find their prey, and scientists have long wondered how the birds navigate over a largely featureless ocean. Previous studies suggested the birds might use a combination of scent and vision to guide them, but until now, no one had been able to directly record the behavior of the foraging seabirds.

[...]

“One surprising finding was that one of the study birds encountered a killer whale, Ornicus orca, during the course of the trip,” wrote the researchers in a paper published this week in the journal PLoS ONE. “This image showed that the killer whale broke the surface and that three other albatrosses were also apparently following the whale.”

[Link]

Apparently, Albatrosses are consciousness enough to improvise when they see an apparent or potential opportunity and by doing so saves 100's-of-miles of flight time. Amazing how an albatross that has a brain that is probably the size of a Tylenol caplet can display so much consciousness.