In Focus
Santos, C. D., Silva, J. P., Muñoz, A.‐R., Onrubia, A., & Wikelski, M. (2020). The gateway to Africa: What determines sea crossing performance of a migratory soaring bird at the strait of ...Gibraltar? Journal of Animal Ecology, 89, 1317–1328. Migrating birds undertake long journeys which pose several challenges. Water bodies are the most demanding ecological barriers for soaring birds, due to the increase in energy consumption and mortality risk. Through high‐resolution GPS, Santos et al. (2020), analysed how the flight performance of 73 black kites crossing the Strait of Gibraltar was affected by external (e.g. weather conditions) and internal factors (individual experience). Kites waited for weaker crosswinds to start the crossing to minimize energy consumption, drift and altitude loss. Moreover, adults were quicker and lost less altitude than juveniles. These processes are likely to occur in all soaring species and have consequences also at a much wider spatial scale. In the Mediterranean region, species‐ and population‐specific migration strategies appear to be influenced by interactions between species' morphology and the distribution of the land masses they traverse.
Migrating birds undertake long journeys which pose several challenges. Water bodies are the most demanding ecological barriers for soaring birds, due to the increase in energy consumption and mortality risk. Through high‐resolution GPS, Santos et al. (2020), analysed how the flight performance of black kites crossing the Strait of Gibraltar was affected.
Mellone talks about the booted eagle (Hieraaetus pennatus), a long-distance migratory raptor that breeds in the western Palearctic and winters primarily in tropical Africa. During both pre- and ...post-breeding migrations, thousands of individuals cross the Strait of Gibraltar. On April 3, 2021, from the European shore of the Strait (Spain), he observed hundreds of raptors--the majority of which were booted eagles--arriving from Africa. Even though soaring raptors like the booted eagle may accomplish the entire migration without performing true stopovers, they could take advantage of occasional foraging opportunities.
Performance of migrating birds can be affected by a number of intrinsic and extrinsic factors like morphology, meteorological conditions and migration strategies. We compared travel speeds of four ...raptor species during their crossing of the Sahara desert. Focusing the analyses on this region allows us to compare different species under equivalent conditions in order to disentangle which factors affect migratory performance.
We tracked raptors using GPS satellite transmitters from Sweden, Spain and Italy, and evaluated their migratory performance at both an hourly and a daily scale. Hourly data (flight speed and altitude for intervals of two hours) were analyzed in relation to time of day, species and season, and daily data (distance between roosting sites) in relation to species, season, day length and tailwind support.
Despite a clear variation in morphology, interspecific differences were generally very small, and did only arise in spring, with long-distance migrants (>5000 km: osprey and Western marsh-harrier) being faster than species that migrate shorter distances (Egyptian vulture and short-toed eagle). Our results suggest that the most important factor explaining hourly variation in flight speed is time of day, while at a daily scale, tailwind support is the most important factor explaining variation in daily distance, raising new questions about the consequences of possible future changes in worldwide wind patterns.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Weather conditions are paramount in shaping birds’ migratory routes, promoting the evolution of behavioural plasticity and allowing for adaptive decisions on when to depart or stop during migration. ...Here, we describe and analyze the influence of weather conditions in shaping the sea-crossing stage of the pre-breeding journey made by a long-distance migratory bird, the Eleonora’s falcon (
Falco eleonorae
), tracked by satellite telemetry from the wintering grounds in the Southern Hemisphere to the breeding sites in the Northern Hemisphere. As far as we know, the data presented here are the first report of repeated oceanic journeys of the same individuals in consecutive years. Our results show inter-annual variability in the routes followed by Eleonora’s falcons when crossing the Strait of Mozambique, between Madagascar and eastern continental Africa. Interestingly, our observations illustrate that individuals show high behavioural plasticity and are able to change their migration route from one year to another in response to weather conditions, thus minimising the risk of long ocean crossing by selecting winds blowing towards Africa for departure and changing the routes to avoid low pressure areas en route. Our results suggest that weather conditions can really act as obstacles during migration, and thus, besides ecological barriers, the migratory behaviour of birds could also be shaped by “meteorological barriers”. We briefly discuss orientation mechanisms used for navigation. Since environmental conditions during migration could cause carry-over effects, we consider that forecasting how global changes of weather patterns will shape the behaviour of migratory birds is of the utmost importance.
Conservation of migratory species faces the challenge of understanding the ecological requirements of individuals living in two geographically separated regions. In some cases, the entire population ...of widely distributed species congregates at relatively small wintering areas and hence, these areas become a priority for the species' conservation. Satellite telemetry allows fine tracking of animal movements and distribution in those less known, often remote areas. Through integrating satellite and GPS data from five separated populations comprising most of the breeding range, we created a wide habitat suitability model for the Eleonora's falcon on its wintering grounds in Madagascar. On this basis, we further investigated, for the first time, the impact of climate change on the future suitability of the species' wintering areas. Eleonora's falcons are mainly distributed in the north and along the east of Madagascar, exhibiting strong site fidelity over years. The current species' distribution pattern is associated with climatic factors, which are likely related to food availability. The extent of suitable areas for Eleonora's falcon is expected to increase in the future. The integration of habitat use information and climatic projections may provide insights on the consequences of global environmental changes for the long-term persistence of migratory species populations.
Many studies suggest that migratory birds are expected to travel more quickly during spring, when they are en route to the breeding grounds, in order to ensure a high-quality territory. Using data ...recorded by means of Global Positioning System satellite tags, we analysed at three temporal scales (hourly, daily and overall journey) seasonal differences in migratory performance of the booted eagle (Aquila pennata), a soaring raptor migrating between Europe and tropical Africa, taking into account environmental conditions such as wind, thermal uplift and day length. Unexpectedly, booted eagles showed higher travel rates (hourly speed, daily distance, overall migration speed and overall straightness) during autumn, even controlling for abiotic factors, probably thanks to higher hourly speeds, more straight routes and less non-travelling days during autumn. Tailwinds were the main environmental factor affecting daily distance. During spring, booted eagles migrated more quickly when flying over the Sahara desert. Our results raise new questions about which ecological and behavioural reasons promote such unexpected faster speeds in autumn and not during spring and how events occurring in very different regions can affect migratory performance, interacting with landscape characteristics, weather conditions and flight behaviour.
Several studies have shown in different organisms how their movements can be fitted to different patterns to optimize search of food resources. According to abundance and availability of resources, ...different strategies will be optimal, such as Lévy and Brownian random search. We analyze the movement patterns of four species of migratory raptors with different degrees of ecological specialization in diet during the breeding and wintering periods to evaluate the differences according to species and season: the Egyptian Vulture, the Short-toed Snake Eagle, the Booted Eagle, and the Red Kite. From GPS locations, we obtained a set of segments and lengths that were analyzed to verify their fitting to the functions of Lévy and Brownian strategies. Egyptian Vulture’s trajectories fitted to both patterns during the breeding period, whereas during the wintering period most trajectories fitted a Brownian pattern. In the case of the Short-toed Eagle, fit was greater to a Lévy strategy throughout the year, while Booted Eagles and Red Kites exhibited a combination of search patterns. These differences could be accounted for different feeding strategies and environmental context over the annual cycle. In species with a specialized diet (i.e., Short-toed Eagle) the Lévy pattern would maximize the encounters with scarce and unpredictable resources, whereas for species with a broad trophic niche (i.e., Booted Eagle and Red Kite), movements could be adapted to exploit different resources according to their abundance. Scavengers like the Egyptian Vulture shift also between search strategies according to the distribution of carrion. Therefore, the analysis of food search patterns can be used as an indirect indicator to track changes in food availability across a broad range of environmental conditions. This is particularly important under the current context of global change which is largely expected to affect migratory species that spend their vital cycle in distant areas.
The adaptive transition between behavioral strategies, such as the shift from migratoriness to sedentariness, remains an outstanding question in evolutionary ecology. Density-dependent variation in ...the age of first breeding has been proposed as a feasible mechanism through which long-lived migratory birds with deferred sexual maturity should become sedentary to persist on islands. Although this pattern seems to hold for most raptors and herons, a few exceptions have been identified. One of these exceptions is the Eleonora's falcon, a long-distance migratory bird, which shows one of the most peculiar adaptations in the timing of reproduction and food requirements among raptors.
Here, we compiled data concerning demography, banding recoveries and satellite tracking of Eleonora's falcons to discuss likely explanations for the exceptional behavior of this insular long-distance migratory species.
New data reveal that Eleonora's falcons do return to the natal colonies in their first year and young birds are able to breed. However, in contrast to previous hypothesis, the highly specialized strategy of this and other ecologically similar species, as well as the virtual lack of food during winter at breeding areas prevent them from becoming sedentary on islands. Although the ultimate mechanisms underlying the process of sedentarization remain poorly understood, the evidence provided reveal the existence of important trade-offs associated with ecological specialization that may become particularly relevant in the present context of global change.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
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