Automated telemetry reveals age specific differences in flight duration and speed are driven by wind conditions in a migratory songbird

Movement Ecology

D Ryan Norris³  Philip D Taylor¹  Bradley K Woodworth⁴  Greg W Mitchell² 

[1] Bird Studies Canada, Port Rowan N0E 1M0, ON, Canada;Wildlife Research Division, National Wildlife Research Center, Environment Canada, Ottawa K1H 0H3, ON, Canada;Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph N1G 2W1, ON, Canada;Department of Biology, Acadia University, Wolfville B4P 2R6, NS, Canada

关键词: Wind support;    Tailwinds;    Songbirds;    Migration;    Groundspeed;    Flight costs;    Crosswinds;    Automated telemetry;    Airspeed;    Aeroecology;    Altitude;   

Others  :  1222782
DOI  :  10.1186/s40462-015-0046-5

 received in 2015-03-27, accepted in 2015-06-09,  发布年份 2015

【 摘 要 】

Background

Given that winds encountered on migration could theoretically double or half the energy expenditure of aerial migrants, there should be strong selection on behaviour in relation to wind conditions aloft. However, evidence suggests that juvenile songbirds are less choosy about wind conditions at departure relative to adults, potentially increasing energy expenditure during flight. To date, there has yet to be a direct comparison of flight efficiency between free-living adult and juvenile songbirds during migration in relation to wind conditions aloft, likely because of the challenges of following known aged individual songbirds during flight. We used an automated digital telemetry array to compare the flight efficiency of adult and juvenile Savannah sparrows (Passerculus sandwichensis) as they flew nearly 100 km during two successive stages of their fall migration; a departure flight from their breeding grounds out over the ocean and then a migratory flight along a coast. Using a multilevel path modelling framework, we evaluated the effects of age, flight stage, tailwind component, and crosswind component on flight duration and groundspeed.

Results

We found that juveniles departed under wind conditions that were less supportive relative to adults and that this resulted in juveniles taking 1.4 times longer to complete the same flight trajectories as adults. We did not find an effect of age on flight duration or groundspeed after controlling for wind conditions aloft, suggesting that both age groups were flying at similar airspeeds. We also found that groundspeeds were 1.7 times faster along the coast than over the ocean given more favourable tailwinds along the coast and because birds appeared to be climbing in altitude over the ocean, diverting some energy from horizontal to vertical movement.

Conclusions

Our results provide the first evidence that adult songbirds have considerably more efficient migratory flights than juveniles, and that this efficiency is driven by the selection of more supportive tailwind conditions aloft. We suggest that the tendency for juveniles to be less choosy about wind conditions at departure relative to adults could be adaptive if the benefits of having a more flexible departure schedule exceed the time and energy savings realized during flight with more supportive winds.

【 授权许可】

   
2015 Mitchell et al.

【 图 表 】

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