Departure of migrating European robins, Erithacus rubecula, from a stopover site in relation to wind and rain

Abstract Migratory birds replenishing their fuel stores have to decide when to leave their stopover site for the next flight bout. We studied whether the decision to leave a stopover site depends on wind and rain conditions. From capture–recapture data of 1153 European robins collected during three autumns at a stopover site in Switzerland, we estimated the daily emigration probability with a newly developed multistate capture–recapture model that accounts for the occurrence of transients. We tested whether the variation in the daily emigration probabilities can be explained by wind speed, wind direction (both on the ground and 300 m above ground) or rain. Variation in emigration probability was largely explained by variation in wind at 300 m and rain. The emigration probability was highest (0.5) during nights with no or weak ( 1.5 m/s), and on nights with weak winds (

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