Automated telemetry reveals staging behavior in a declining migratory passerine

Abstract

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Sex-Specific Spatiotemporal Variation and Carry-Over Effects in a Migratory Alpine Songbird

“…We created a prior movement model of flight speeds applied to each day of the migration period where most speeds were from 0 to 40 km/h but allowed for speeds up to 80 km/h with rapidly diminishing likelihood. This allows travel distances of 200 km per 5 h flight to be common, up to a maximum of 400 km, which is comparable to migration estimates for other songbirds (Hall-Karlsson and Fransson, 2008;Macdonald et al, 2015;Wright et al, 2018).…”

“…While evidence for staging in songbirds originally stemmed from long-distance migrants preparing to cross major landscape features (e.g., the Sahara; Arlt et al, 2015), recent observations indicate this behavior may be more prevalent in songbirds than once thought (Bayly et al, 2018). For example, bobolink Dolichonyx oryzivorus may stop for more than 20 days during both southward and northward migration (Renfrew et al, 2013), while rusty blackbirds Euphagus carolinus exhibited average stationary periods of 25.5 days (max = 62 days) prior to arriving at the breeding site (Wright et al, 2018). Interestingly, staging behavior is most commonly observed in capital breeders like snow goose Anser caerulescens when preparing to arrive at unpredictable, high latitude breeding sites (Bêty et al, 2004).…”

Ten years tracking the migrations of small landbirds: Lessons learned in the golden age of bio-logging

“…Automated-telemetry is also filling an important gap in our understanding of migratory initiation and stopover behaviors (n ¼ 21 studies, Appendix B). Wright et al (2018) examine in detail the stopover biology of a species at risk, the Rusty Blackbird (Euphagus carolinus). They discovered a pattern of extended stays (25 days on average) in both spring and fall; correlations between stopover duration, molt, and body condition; and nocturnal migration over water; all important information for conservation and management, as well as shedding light onto stopover biology in general.…”

“…This technology is particularly amenable to studying departure decisions of migrants, either from breeding or stopover sites (Sjöberg and Nilsson 2015. Because the towers are passive, this approach works well in locations where the natural geography concentrates birds into a particular area where a tower can be installed (e.g., along the shore of Lake Erie; see Wright et al 2018), or where a radio-receiver ''fence'' can be created to detect any passing individual. This method has been used with great success to determine the timing of Gulf of Mexico crossings for landbirds by deploying Nanotags at the north coast of the Gulf and creating a ''fence'' of receiving towers along the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico .…”

Florida's Strategic Position for Collaborative Automated Telemetry Tracking of Avian Movements Across the Americas

“…It has facilitated new insights into the migration routes, rates, and stopover behavior of individual migratory birds. Assessments have been made of phenomena such as the full life cycle of the formerly endangered Kirtland's warbler Setophaga kirtlandii (Cooper et al 2018), migratory staging behavior of the vulnerable rusty blackbird Euphagus carolinus (Wright et al 2018), individual migratory flight decisions of songbirds (Baldwin et al 2018), and the dispersal and staging of terns throughout the Western North Atlantic (Loring et al 2017(Loring et al , 2019.…”