Individual and sex‐related patterns of prolonged flights during both day and night by great reed warblers crossing the Mediterranean Sea and Sahara Desert
A wide variety of the barrier crossing strategies exist among migrating songbirds, ranging from strict nocturnal flights to non‐stop flights over a few days. We evaluate barrier crossing strategies in a nocturnally migrating songbird crossing the Mediterranean Sea and the Sahara Desert, the great re...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wiley
2021-01-01
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| Series: | Journal of Avian Biology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1111/jav.02549 |
| _version_ | 1818474859799248896 |
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| author | Gintaras Malmiga Maja Tarka Thomas Alerstam Bengt Hansson Dennis Hasselquist |
| author_facet | Gintaras Malmiga Maja Tarka Thomas Alerstam Bengt Hansson Dennis Hasselquist |
| author_sort | Gintaras Malmiga |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | A wide variety of the barrier crossing strategies exist among migrating songbirds, ranging from strict nocturnal flights to non‐stop flights over a few days. We evaluate barrier crossing strategies in a nocturnally migrating songbird crossing the Mediterranean Sea and the Sahara Desert, the great reed warbler, exploring variation between the sexes and within individuals. We used data from 31 year‐round light‐level geolocators tracks from 26 individuals (13 males and 13 females), with four individuals tracked for 2–3.5 consecutive years. Almost all individuals (25 of 26) prolonged their flights into the day at least on one occasion. The mean duration of these prolonged flights was 19.9 h and did not differ between sexes or seasons. Fifteen birds performed non‐stop flights during more than one full day and night (≥ 24 h; mean = 31.9 h; max = 55 h) in autumn and/or spring, but these flights were generally too short to cross an entire barrier (such as the Sahara Desert) in one non‐stop flight. Patterns of prolonged flights showed considerable within‐individual variation in females between seasons (autumn versus spring) and in both males and females between years, suggesting high individual flexibility in migration strategy. Significantly more males than females performed prolonged flights during autumn migration, but not spring, possibly reflecting sex‐specific carry‐over effects. We conclude that great reed warblers have the ability to conduct prolonged continuous flights for up to several nights and days, which potentially would allow them to cross the Sahara Desert in one non‐stop flight. However, they typically use a mixed strategy of several nocturnal flights with intermittent stopovers in combination with 1–3 prolonged flights. Prolonged flights covered less than half (44%) of the total flight time across the barriers, and the diurnal parts of the flights covered only 18% of this time. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-14T04:42:03Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-9eeded80d7f143278dd0cea26d89b8f5 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 0908-8857 1600-048X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-14T04:42:03Z |
| publishDate | 2021-01-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Avian Biology |
| spelling | doaj.art-9eeded80d7f143278dd0cea26d89b8f52022-12-22T02:11:37ZengWileyJournal of Avian Biology0908-88571600-048X2021-01-01521n/an/a10.1111/jav.02549Individual and sex‐related patterns of prolonged flights during both day and night by great reed warblers crossing the Mediterranean Sea and Sahara DesertGintaras Malmiga0Maja Tarka1Thomas Alerstam2Bengt Hansson3Dennis Hasselquist4Nature Research Centre Vilnius LithuaniaDept of Biology, Lund Univ., Ecology Building Lund SwedenDept of Biology, Lund Univ., Ecology Building Lund SwedenDept of Biology, Lund Univ., Ecology Building Lund SwedenDept of Biology, Lund Univ., Ecology Building Lund SwedenA wide variety of the barrier crossing strategies exist among migrating songbirds, ranging from strict nocturnal flights to non‐stop flights over a few days. We evaluate barrier crossing strategies in a nocturnally migrating songbird crossing the Mediterranean Sea and the Sahara Desert, the great reed warbler, exploring variation between the sexes and within individuals. We used data from 31 year‐round light‐level geolocators tracks from 26 individuals (13 males and 13 females), with four individuals tracked for 2–3.5 consecutive years. Almost all individuals (25 of 26) prolonged their flights into the day at least on one occasion. The mean duration of these prolonged flights was 19.9 h and did not differ between sexes or seasons. Fifteen birds performed non‐stop flights during more than one full day and night (≥ 24 h; mean = 31.9 h; max = 55 h) in autumn and/or spring, but these flights were generally too short to cross an entire barrier (such as the Sahara Desert) in one non‐stop flight. Patterns of prolonged flights showed considerable within‐individual variation in females between seasons (autumn versus spring) and in both males and females between years, suggesting high individual flexibility in migration strategy. Significantly more males than females performed prolonged flights during autumn migration, but not spring, possibly reflecting sex‐specific carry‐over effects. We conclude that great reed warblers have the ability to conduct prolonged continuous flights for up to several nights and days, which potentially would allow them to cross the Sahara Desert in one non‐stop flight. However, they typically use a mixed strategy of several nocturnal flights with intermittent stopovers in combination with 1–3 prolonged flights. Prolonged flights covered less than half (44%) of the total flight time across the barriers, and the diurnal parts of the flights covered only 18% of this time.https://doi.org/10.1111/jav.02549Acrocephalus arundinaceusdiurnal flights in nocturnal migrantsgeolocatormigration strategynon-stop flightsrepeated tracks |
| spellingShingle | Gintaras Malmiga Maja Tarka Thomas Alerstam Bengt Hansson Dennis Hasselquist Individual and sex‐related patterns of prolonged flights during both day and night by great reed warblers crossing the Mediterranean Sea and Sahara Desert Journal of Avian Biology Acrocephalus arundinaceus diurnal flights in nocturnal migrants geolocator migration strategy non-stop flights repeated tracks |
| title | Individual and sex‐related patterns of prolonged flights during both day and night by great reed warblers crossing the Mediterranean Sea and Sahara Desert |
| title_full | Individual and sex‐related patterns of prolonged flights during both day and night by great reed warblers crossing the Mediterranean Sea and Sahara Desert |
| title_fullStr | Individual and sex‐related patterns of prolonged flights during both day and night by great reed warblers crossing the Mediterranean Sea and Sahara Desert |
| title_full_unstemmed | Individual and sex‐related patterns of prolonged flights during both day and night by great reed warblers crossing the Mediterranean Sea and Sahara Desert |
| title_short | Individual and sex‐related patterns of prolonged flights during both day and night by great reed warblers crossing the Mediterranean Sea and Sahara Desert |
| title_sort | individual and sex related patterns of prolonged flights during both day and night by great reed warblers crossing the mediterranean sea and sahara desert |
| topic | Acrocephalus arundinaceus diurnal flights in nocturnal migrants geolocator migration strategy non-stop flights repeated tracks |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1111/jav.02549 |
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