Between‐winter emigration rates are linked to reproductive output in Greenland White‐fronted Geese Anser albifrons flavirostris

The paradox of spoonbill migration: most birds travel to where survival rates are lowest

“…Such an age-dependent increase in wintering site fidelity was also found in Greenland white-fronted geese (Marchi et al 2010) and was suggested to be caused by young birds switching to the wintering site of their partner after pairing outside the wintering grounds. However, this reasoning cannot hold for spoonbills because they do not form pairs for life (unpublished data).…”

“…82% to ca. 95% between the first and fourth year of life (Marchi et al 2010). Lesser black-backed gulls, Larus fuscus, made large betweenwinter displacements in the direction of the breeding grounds during the first 3 years of life, after which between-winter displacement distances strongly decreased (Marques et al 2010).…”

“…Dominance status may increase gradually with age, and wintering close to the breeding grounds is only beneficial for individuals that have become reproductively active, which in spoonbills takes at least 3 years (de le Court & Aguilera 1997;Bauchau et al 1998). Therefore, the period of increasing fidelity may extend over more than the first year of life, as observed in other long-lived species (Marchi et al 2010;Marques et al 2010). To test for this, we compared alternative models with fidelity as a function of two, three and four age classes, and as a linear function of age.…”

No evidence for sex bias in winter inter‐site movements in an Arctic‐nesting goose population

“…Our emigration probabilities are similar to those of Marchi et al . (), using different approaches to model age‐ and sex‐specific emigration in this population. In this study, we build on Marchi et al .…”

“…those aged 1 and 2) are more likely to emigrate than older birds (potentially associated with pairing of birds from different wintering provenance; Marchi et al . ). Birds are also more likely to emigrate when they are hatched in years of high production of young (Marchi et al .…”