Tracking migration routes and the annual cycle of a trans-Sahara songbird migrant

Movement ecology studies have highlighted the importance of individual-based research. As tracking devices have not been applicable for identifying year-around movements of small birds until recently, migration routes of such species relied on visual observations and ring recoveries. Within the Palaearctic–African migration system, loop migration seems to be the overall migration pattern. The interindividual variations within species-specific migration routes are, however, unknown. Here, we track the individual migration routes and annual cycles of male Northern Wheatears Oenanthe oenanthe, a trans-Sahara songbird migrant from a German breeding population with light-level geolocators. Two migrated most likely via Spain towards western Africa but returned via Corsica/Sardinia, while two others seemed to migrate via Sardinia and Corsica in autumn and via Spain and France in spring (loop migration). The fifth took presumably the same route via France and the Balearics in both seasons. All birds wintered in the Sahel zone of western Africa. Overall migration distances for autumn and spring were similar (about 4,100 km), whereas the overall migratory speed was generally higher in spring (126 km day−1) than in autumn (88 km day−1). Birds spent about 130 days at the breeding area and 147 days at the wintering grounds.

[1]  Martin Wikelski,et al.  Tracking migratory songbirds: accuracy of light‐level loggers (geolocators) in forest habitats , 2012 .

[2]  Jeffrey D. Brawn,et al.  Meta‐analysis of transmitter effects on avian behaviour and ecology , 2010 .

[3]  Simeon Lisovski,et al.  Geolocation by light: accuracy and precision affected by environmental factors , 2012 .

[4]  E. Revilla,et al.  A movement ecology paradigm for unifying organismal movement research , 2008, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[5]  Philip A. Ekstrom,et al.  An advance in geolocation by light , 2004 .

[6]  T. Fransson,et al.  How far do birds fly during one migratory flight stage? , 2008 .

[7]  M. Wilson,et al.  Handbook of the birds of Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. The birds of the Western Palearctic: 3. Waders to gulls , 1984 .

[8]  H. Schmaljohann,et al.  New bird records from Mauritania , 2005 .

[9]  Franz Bairlein,et al.  Cross-hemisphere migration of a 25 g songbird , 2012, Biology Letters.

[10]  F. Bairlein,et al.  Der Zug europäischer Singvögel. Ein Atlas der Wiederfunde beringter Vögel. Band III: Fringillidae, Passeridae , 1995 .

[11]  Vsevolod Afanasyev,et al.  Year-Round Tracking of Small Trans-Saharan Migrants Using Light-Level Geolocators , 2010, PloS one.

[12]  Beat Naef-Daenzer,et al.  A test for effects of radio-tagging on survival and movements of small birds , 2003 .

[13]  Felix Liechti,et al.  Birds: blowin’ by the wind? , 2006, Journal of Ornithology.

[14]  H. Schmaljohann,et al.  Differential timing of spring migration in northern wheatears Oenanthe oenanthe: hurried males or weak females? , 2005, Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology.

[15]  R Core Team,et al.  R: A language and environment for statistical computing. , 2014 .

[16]  Melissa S. Bowlin,et al.  The effects of geolocator drag and weight on the flight ranges of small migrants , 2010 .

[17]  Thomas Alerstam,et al.  Temporal and spatial patterns of repeated migratory journeys by ospreys , 2006, Animal Behaviour.

[18]  B. Naef-Daenzer,et al.  An allometric function to fit leg‐loop harnesses to terrestrial birds , 2007 .

[19]  A. J. Noordwijk,et al.  Improving the analysis of movement data from marked individuals through explicit estimation of observer heterogeneity , 2010 .

[20]  G. Zink.  Der Zug europäischer Singvögel. Ein Atlas der Wiederfunde beringter Vögel. 1. Lieferung (30 Arten) , 1973 .

[21]  Roine Strandberg,et al.  Loop migration in adult marsh harriers Circus aeruginosus, as revealed by satellite telemetry , 2010 .

[22]  C. Perrins,et al.  Birds of the Western Palearctic , 1978, Nature.

[23]  Vsevolod Afanasyev,et al.  The annual cycle of a trans-equatorial Eurasian–African passerine migrant: different spatio-temporal strategies for autumn and spring migration , 2012, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.

[24]  F. Bairlein,et al.  Satellite tracking of two Montagu’s Harriers (Circus pygargus): dual pathways during autumn migration , 2007, Journal of Ornithology.

[25]  H. Flinks,et al.  Auswirkung von Spätbruten auf Mauser und Rückkehrrate bei einem Weitstreckenzieher, dem Steinschmätzer (Oenanthe oenanthe) , 2009 .

[26]  P. Berthold,et al.  Bird Migration: A General Survey , 2002 .

[27]  Melissa S. Bowlin,et al.  Integrating concepts and technologies to advance the study of bird migration , 2010 .

[28]  J. Wingfield.  Organization of vertebrate annual cycles: implications for control mechanisms , 2008, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.

[29]  S. Daan,et al.  University of Groningen Circadian Rhythms of Locomotor Activity in Captive Birds and Mammals , 2004 .

[30]  S. Shaffer,et al.  Effects of geolocation archival tags on reproduction and adult body mass of sooty shearwaters (Puffinus griseus) , 2009 .

[31]  Vsevolod Afanasyev,et al.  Tracking Long-Distance Songbird Migration by Using Geolocators , 2009, Science.

[32]  H. Southern,et al.  Handbook of the Birds of Europe, the Middle East and North Africa; the Birds of the Western Palearctic , 1978 .

[33]  F. Leckie,et al.  Cost of Carrying Radio Transmitters: a Test with Racing Pigeons Columba Livia , 2007 .

[34]  S. Schemnitz,et al.  Wildlife Management Techniques Manual , 1980 .