How far do birds fly during one migratory flight stage?

Abstract

Birds on migration normally switch between flight stages and periods of stopover where fuel stores are replenished. How migratory birds divide their time between flight and stopover is still not well known. Shortterm recoveries of passerine birds ringed in Sweden were analysed to investigate how far long-distance migrating passerines fly during a flight stage and whether they migrate one or more flight stages in a row. Included in the study were birds recovered at least 50 km from the ringing site and within seven days from ringing. The median distance covered by the recovered birds was 245 km. About 40% of the recoveries within 24 hours from ringing were found at least 200 km from the ringing site. The distances covered varied and many birds moved only short distances, perhaps as a result of searching for good stopover sites, while others moved much further away. Two recoveries of Sedge Warblers three days after ringing indicated that these birds had flown three nights in a row before being controlled. The results suggest that long-distance passerine migrants regularly perform several flight stages in a row, with short rests in between, before refuelling, even if there are no major barriers ahead.

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).…”

Automated telemetry reveals staging behavior in a declining migratory passerine

“…We were not able to directly measure fuel deposition in the present study, but it seems unlikely that Rusty Blackbirds require these lengthy staging events for refueling alone. Although the recorded The Auk: Ornithological Advances 135:461-476, Q 2018 American Ornithological Society migratory flights of .400 km are substantially longer than typical passerine migratory flights (150-270 km; Wikelski et al 2003, Hall-Karlsson and Fransson 2008, Stutchbury et al 2009, they are not comparable to the long-distance, nonstop flights of shorebirds (and some passerines) associated with crossing major marine boundaries (thousands of kilometers; e.g., Gill et al 2009, Warnock 2010, Alves et al 2016, Gómez et al 2017. Further physiological studies are needed to clarify the role that fuel deposition plays in determining Rusty Blackbird staging behavior.…”

Migration Takes Extra Guts for Juvenile Songbirds: Energetics and Digestive Physiology During the First Journey

“…Juveniles generally tend to underperform adults during migration. For example, juveniles migrate slower (Ellegren, 1990;Fransson, 1995;Susanna et al, 2008), and may spend more time at stopovers (Veiga, 1986;Ellegren, 1991;Morris et al, 1996;Yong et al, 1998;Rguibi-Idrissi et al, 2003;Mills et al, 2011) than adults. These observations suggest that juveniles refuel differently from adults during fall migration.…”