Alternate non-stop migration strategies of pied flycatchers to cross the Sahara desert.

نویسندگان

  • Janne Ouwehand
  • Christiaan Both
چکیده

Each year more than two billion songbirds cross the Sahara, but how they perform this formidable task is largely unknown. Using geolocation tracks from 27 pied flycatchers, a nocturnally migrating passerine, we show that most birds made diurnal flights in both autumn and spring. These diurnal flights were estimated to be part of non-stop flights of mostly 40-60 h. In spring, birds flew across the Sahara, while autumn migration probably circumpassed part of the desert, through a long oversea flight. Our data contradict claims that passerines cross the Sahara by intermittent flight and daytime resting. The frequent occurrence of long non-stop flights to cross the desert shows migrants' physiological abilities and poses the question why this would not be the general migration strategy to cross the Sahara.

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عنوان ژورنال:
  • Biology letters

دوره 12 4  شماره 

صفحات  -

تاریخ انتشار 2016