The origin of Lesser Black‐backed Gulls<i>Larus fuscus</i>wintering in central Iberia

Galván, Ismael; Marchamalo, Javier; Bakken, Vidar; Traverso, José María

doi:10.1080/03078698.2003.9674295

Cited by 9 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…Our data highlighted a significant reduction of first winters between migration and winter, suggesting that they might migrate further south in their search for a wintering ground (Cramp and Simmons 1982). Alternatively, first winters could also move to the central Iberian Peninsula in their migration movement; however, the age structure observed in the central Iberian Peninsula population (Galván et al 2003), similar to the one presented in this study, rejects this possibility. On the other hand, immatures present an inverse trend, increasing their relative abundance during the winter.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 71%

“…It is, namely, a common migratory species with a wide geographical spread, occurring from Scandinavia to northwest Africa (Rock 2002;BirdLife International 2004) with several long-term colour ring projects across Europe that provide useful information on the movements of individuals. The species presents two major migration routes, southwest and southeast routes that are mostly used by the western and eastern breeding populations, respectively, to their winter quarters (Cramp and Simmons 1982), with the western populations following a coastal route moving south on their movements to the wintering quarters (Galván et al 2003). Recently, Schmaljohann et al (2008) suggested that the gulls can perform long non-stop flights between the eastern Atlantic coast of sub-Saharan Africa and the Mediterranean Sea.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Age-related migration patterns in Larus fuscus spp.

et al. 2009

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Migration is a critical period in a bird's life that can affect the fitness of individuals. Intra-population migratory patterns and the way different sex and/or age classes within a population differ in timing and/or distance of migration are not completely understood. The present study aims to observe inter-and intra-population migratory patterns in the western population of Lesser Black-backed Gulls (Larus fuscus spp.), shedding light on age-related differences of temporal patterns of occurrence in the Portuguese coastal areas during migration and winter. One thousand seven hundred and fifty-four colour ring records were analysed matching a 30-year period of observations on the Portuguese coast between 1975 and 2005. During migration, the graellsii population represents 90% of the migratory flow of L. fuscus through Portugal with the intermedius accounting for 9% and the fuscus population, being vestigial in this period, accounting for 1%. Nevertheless, interesting significant differences were observed between the age classes of the three populations during this period, the graellsii population having a large number of first winters (40% of the migratory contingent of this population) followed by immatures and adults whilst in the intermedius and fuscus populations, the largest age class is the adults. During winter, no inter-population differences were found. When comparing migration and winter periods, intra-population differences were found in the graellsii and fuscus populations regarding distribution and age classes. These results indicate different migratory routes amongst different populations suggesting a leapfrog migration in L. fuscus and also a differential age-related migration pattern that might result from first winters migrating further south in search of a wintering place since adults heavily occupy the closest wintering quarters in their attempt to arrive earlier at their breeding ground.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 71%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Age-related migration patterns in Larus fuscus spp.

et al. 2009

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“…How this flexibility in flight modes and feeding habits subsequently affects migration strategies is unknown, mainly because gulls have hitherto received little attention in migration studies (but see Pütz et al 2007Pütz et al , 2008. Ringing and especially color ringing has revealed some basic spatial aspects of gull migration, such as general migration routes and wintering areas (e.g., Baker 1980;Galván et al 2003;Helberg et al 2009; Kees (C. J.)…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Migration strategy of a flight generalist, the Lesser Black-backed Gull Larus fuscus

et al. 2011

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Migrating birds are believed to minimize the time spent on migration rather than energy. Birds seem to maximize migration speed in different ways as a noteworthy variation in migration strategies exists. We studied migration strategies of a flight mode and feeding generalist, the Lesser Black-backed Gull Larus fuscus, using GPS-based satellite telemetry. We expected the gulls to achieve very high overall migration speeds by traveling via the shortest direct route, traveling during a large part of the day and night, and making few and short stopovers. Fourteen individuals were tracked between the Dutch breeding colony and the wintering sites in England, southern Europe and northwest Africa. The gulls did not travel via the shortest possible route but made substantial detours by their tendency to follow coasts. Although the gulls traveled during most of the day, and sometimes during the night, they did not achieve long daily distances (177 and 176 km/day in autumn and spring, respectively), which is explained by the gulls stopping frequently on travel days to forage. Furthermore, due to frequent and long migratory stopovers, their overall migration speed was among the lowest recorded for migratory birds (44 and 98 km/day, in autumn and spring, respectively). A possible explanation for the unexpected frequent stopovers and low migration speeds is that gulls do not minimize the duration of migration but rather minimize the costs of migration. Energy rather than time might be important for short-distance migrating birds, resulting in very different migration strategies compared with long-distance migrants.

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“…Such a scenario might well be possible if sub-adults and adults migrate separately, and birds adopting the final migration route only at later age (Baker 1980. For example, Galván et al (2003) found in the inner parts of the Iberian Peninsula mainly adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls were observed in more than one year, suggesting that young birds were moving to other areas. As we recorded that some adult fuscus followed a western migration route, it might be that these areas offer some benefits to wintering gulls, for example as a consequence of the proliferation of refuse tip and reservoirs in southwestern Europe (Galván 2003).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%