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Timing in the ocean can be crucial.
时机在海洋中可说异常重要。
In summer, the northern Atlantic waters are beginning to warm.
在夏天，北大西洋的海水渐渐暖和起来。
The hunting is good here, and by June, predators from southern waters are heading towards the Azores.
在这里猎食成果颇丰，到了六月，来自南方水域的掠食者会朝着亚速尔群岛前进。
These are more Common Dolphin. Like most oceanic dolphins, they too often travel in huge herds containing many different families.
更多的真海豚。就像其他海洋中的海豚一样，它们也会大群群聚，好几个家庭一起行动。
There is seldom enough prey in any one place to feed such numbers.
很少单一地点能有足够的粮食能喂饱这一大群。
So small groups leave the super-pod and set off on hunting expeditions.
所以小团体离开大群体，开始短程猎食之旅。
This group will be away from the main herd for several hours.
这些小团体会离开几个小时。
By mid-day they're nearing the lslands of the Azores -- nine hundred miles west of the Portuguese coast.
到了中午的时候，它们已接近亚速尔群岛，离葡萄牙海岸有900英里远。
Other hunters are already here -- Cory's Shearwaters. Half a million of these birds breed on the Azores every year and scour the nearby ocean for food.
其他的猎食者已经等候多时--水剃鸟。50万只水剃鸟每年在亚速尔群岛繁殖，并在附近水域搜寻食物。
Right now there is insufficient wind to support gliding flight,
现在风力不足，它们不能滑翔，
and since flapping is a waste of energy, they sit out the calm clustered in rafts and riding the gentle swells.
拍打翅膀又太耗能，所以它们安静地群聚在水上随波摇摆。
By mid-afternoon the dolphin are starting to hunt in earnest. As the sea breeze picks up, the shearwaters take to the air once more.
到了下午，海豚开始猛烈猎食。当海风开始增强，水剃鸟再度起飞。
Out to sea, the dolphin have found prey. They are driving a shoal of small mackerel up towards the surface.
海洋中海豚也找到猎物了。它们正将一群鲭鱼趋赶至水面附近。
The shearwaters crowd the skies above, following the dolphins' every turn.
剃鸟布满了上方的天空，追随海豚的每一次转向。
The mackerel are still some metres down. But when the baitfish come sufficiently close, the airborne division makes its move.
鲭鱼还在水面下数公尺处。当它们的饵食进入有效猎程，空中部队就会开始行动。
Far from being mere bystanders, the shearwaters can now become underwater predators themselves.
不再是旁观者，水剃鸟现在成了水中的掠食者。
Incredibly, they can dive down to depths of several metres.
它们可以下潜数公尺的深度，十分惊人。
The hunting dolphin prevent the mackerel from escaping downwards and both predators gorge themselves.
猎食中的海豚不让鲭鱼往下逃，两位掠食者皆不忘饱餐一顿。
Soon the diving birds outnumber the dolphin and even drive them away from their meal.
很快地水鸟的数量多过海豚，甚至开始将海豚驱离它们的大餐。
But another squadron of predators arrives to replace the dolphin. Adult yellow-fin tuna.
但是另一团掠食者到达，准备取代海豚的位置。黄鳍鲔的成鱼。
These are giants -- two metres long. They are heading directly for the bait ball.
它们都是庞然大物--有两公尺长。它们直冲着这一团饵食而来。
Despite the arrival of the giant fish, the shearwater continue to press home their attack unfazed.
虽然来的都是巨大的鱼类，水剃鸟的攻击仍然不懈。
Eventually, the tuna move on, leaving the shearwaters to battle among themselves.
最后，这些鲔鱼继续前进，留下水剃鸟自相残杀。
As long as a predatory fish or a dolphin remains at the scene the mackerel can't escape to safety.
只要有只肉食鱼类留在现场，鲭鱼就无法脱身。
But when the little skipjack tuna start to move away, gradually the bait ball begins to sink in to the depths towards safety.
但是当小只的鲣鱼开始远离，这一群饵食就会慢慢地下潜到比较安全的深度。
The shearwaters follow it down to the very limit of their breath-holding ability, perhaps as deep as fifteen metres. At last, even they are forced to leave their quarry.
水剃鸟会跟着它们下潜到自己闭气的极限，大约是15公尺的深度。最后就连它们也必须离开。
However good or bad this summer's feeding may be, within three months, winter will be on its way, and the temperature of these waters will drop by a few degrees.
无论夏日喂食季的结果如何，再过三个月冬天就会到来，这里的水温会下降好几度。
Then the ocean hunters will abandon the Azores once more.
海洋中的猎食者就会再度离弃亚速尔群岛。
As ever, they will move on -- searching for another feeding opportunity, the next pulse of life in the distant reaches of the Open Ocean.
它们会继续前行以寻找其他进食的机会，寻找在广大远洋的下一个生命停靠站。
