The fall migratory movements of Bank Swallows, Riparia riparia: fly-and-forage migration?

Imlay, Tara L.; Saldanha, Sarah; Taylor, Philip D.

doi:10.5751/ace-01463-150102

Cited by 12 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…Similar fly-and-forage migration has been observed in other seabirds such as Cory's shearwaters and lesser black-backed gulls (Dias et al 2012, Klaassen et al 2012. It is also commonly observed in raptors (Strandberg & Alerstam 2007, Hadjikyriakou et al 2020 and in some passerines such as Bank swallows (Imlay et al 2020). One prerequisite for the fly-and-forage strategy is that migrants travel over habitats where they can still forage.…”

Section: Daily Activity Patterns During Active Migration Periodssupporting

confidence: 58%

Six pelagic seabird species of the North Atlantic engage in a fly-and-forage strategy during their migratory movements

Amélineau

Merkel

Tarroux

et al. 2021

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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Bird migration is commonly defined as a seasonal movement between breeding and non-breeding grounds. It generally involves relatively straight and directed large-scale movements, with a latitudinal change, and specific daily activity patterns comprising less or no foraging and more traveling time. Our main objective was to describe how this general definition applies to seabirds. We investigated migration characteristics of 6 pelagic seabird species (little auk Alle alle, Atlantic puffin Fratercula arctica, common guillemot Uria aalge, Brünnich’s guillemot U. lomvia, black-legged kittiwake Rissa tridactyla and northern fulmars Fulmarus glacialis). We analysed an extensive geolocator positional and saltwater immersion dataset from 29 colonies in the North-East Atlantic and across several years (2008-2019). We used a novel method to identify active migration periods based on segmentation of time series of track characteristics (latitude, longitude, net-squared displacement). Additionally, we used the saltwater immersion data of geolocators to infer bird activity. We found that the 6 species had, on average, 3 to 4 migration periods and 2 to 3 distinct stationary areas during the non-breeding season. On average, seabirds spent the winter at lower latitudes than their breeding colonies and followed specific migration routes rather than non-directionally dispersing from their colonies. Differences in daily activity patterns were small between migratory and stationary periods, suggesting that all species continued to forage and rest while migrating, engaging in a ‘fly-and-forage’ migratory strategy. We thereby demonstrate the importance of habitats visited during seabird migrations as those that are not just flown over, but which may be important for re-fuelling.

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Section: Daily Activity Patterns During Active Migration Periodssupporting

confidence: 58%

Six pelagic seabird species of the North Atlantic engage in a fly-and-forage strategy during their migratory movements

Amélineau

Merkel

Tarroux

et al. 2021

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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“…Although connectivity profiles are generalizable to many datasets, certain situations may increase the probability of false positive and negative peaks. First, our approach assumes constant migratory movement, which is a relatively safe assumption for an aerial insectivore like the common nighthawk that likely employs an energy-minimizing migration strategy (Imlay et al 2020); however, time-minimizing migrants make extensive stopovers during migration (Alerstam and Hedenström 1998). Assuming constant migratory movement for those species would likely increase the probability of missing a peak in temporal connectivity because it would reduce the temporal clustering of individuals.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comprehensive estimation of spatial and temporal migratory connectivity across the annual cycle to direct conservation efforts

et al. 2021

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Research666 the probability that our method missed peaks (spatial: 0.12, temporal: 0.18) or detected false peaks (spatial: 0.11, temporal: 0.37) due to data gaps and showed that our approach remains useful even for sparse and/or sporadic location data. Our study presents a generalizable approach to evaluating migratory connectivity across the full annual cycle that can be used to focus migratory bird conservation towards places and times of the annual cycle where populations are more likely to be limited.

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“…Or, migratory flights may be undertaken in the morning daylight hours, leaving the afternoon for foraging and refueling [ 4 ]. Indeed, such a strategy may be evident in bank swallows ( Riparia riparia ), where during fall migration travel speeds were slower, suggesting they were actively refueling while migrating [ 35 ]. However, the degree to which other swallow species use a fly-and-forage strategy, and the conditions that promote its use, require further investigation using migration tracking.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…During open-ocean or other barrier crossing, the advantages of being able to forage while migrating may be reduced or eliminated, as aerial insect availability may be limited or absent over open ocean [ 4 ]. Birds that engage in ocean crossing and incorporate night flights may reflect a time- and/or energy-minimization strategy [ 36 , 37 ], where barrier crossing at the Caribbean Sea or Gulf of Mexico may greatly reduce overall distances travelled, and thus minimize the overall time and energy required to complete spring migration [ 35 , 36 ]. Indeed, the ocean crossings we documented reflect significant ‘short cuts’, as compared to an overland route throughout the same regions (e.g.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The use of nocturnal flights for barrier crossing in a diurnally migrating songbird

et al. 2021

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Background The migration patterns of land birds can generally be divided into those species that migrate principally during the day and those that migrate during the night. Some species may show individual plasticity in the use of day or night flight, particularly when crossing large, open-water or desert barriers. However, individual plasticity in circadian patterns of migratory flights in diurnally migrating songbirds has never been investigated. Methods We used high precision GPS tracking of a diurnal, migratory swallow, the purple martin (Progne subis), to determine whether individuals were flexible in their spring migration strategies to include some night flight, particularly at barrier crossing. Results Most (91%) of individuals made large (sometimes > 1000 km), open-water crossings of the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico that included the use of night flight. 32% of all water crossings were initiated at night, demonstrating that night flight is not only used to complete large crossings but may confer other advantages for diurnal birds. Birds were not more likely to initiate crossings with supportive winds, however crossings were more likely when they reduced travel distances. Our results are consistent with diurnal birds using night flight to help achieve time- and energy-savings through ‘short cuts’ at barrier crossings, at times and locations when foraging opportunities are not available. Conclusions Overall, our results demonstrate the use of nocturnal flight and a high degree of individual plasticity in migration strategies on a circadian scale in a species generally considered to be a diurnal migrant. Nocturnal flights at barrier crossing may provide time and energy savings where foraging opportunities are low in an otherwise diurnal strategy. Future research should target how diel foraging and refueling strategies support nocturnal flights and barrier crossing in this and other diurnal species.

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The fall migratory movements of Bank Swallows, Riparia riparia: fly-and-forage migration?

Cited by 12 publications

References 35 publications

Six pelagic seabird species of the North Atlantic engage in a fly-and-forage strategy during their migratory movements

Six pelagic seabird species of the North Atlantic engage in a fly-and-forage strategy during their migratory movements

Comprehensive estimation of spatial and temporal migratory connectivity across the annual cycle to direct conservation efforts

The use of nocturnal flights for barrier crossing in a diurnally migrating songbird

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