Birds 'heard tornadoes coming' and fled the day before

Ecologists in America have discovered that golden winged warblers dodged a set of tornadoes that hit the central states in April this year, killing 35 people.

Dr Henry Streby, population ecologist at University of California, told Today's Justin Webb: "We discovered that they could not only avoid this storm but they left more than a full day before the storm got there."

"Birds can respond to changes in barometric pressure, temperature, and wind speed and direction, but none of those cues would have been there until a full day after they left."

"We think that they heard the storm coming."

First broadcast Today programme 19 December 2014.