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Return migration of Common Cuckoos (Cuculus canorus) between breeding grounds in Hungary and wintering grounds in Africa as documented by non-PTT GPS technology

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Abstract

We tagged 12 adult Common Cuckoos (Cuculus canorus) with non-platform terminal transmitter (non-PTT) GPS-UHF telemetry at their breeding grounds in Hungary. One male and two female Cuckoos (one of them twice) were again observed in subsequent years, and GPS fixes documented their migration routes to and from Africa, as far south as Namibia. All four routes showed the species-typical clockwise loop migration. Although currently non-PPT GPS tracking with remotely downloadable data as an ornithological method is primarily suitable to map home ranges of birds, it could be a complement to PTT technology in migration research, especially for delivery of higher spatial accuracy.

Zusammenfassung

Zug des Kuckucks ( Cuculus canorus ) zwischen den Überwinterungsgebieten in Afrika und den Brutgebieten in Ungarn, aufgezeichnet mittels nicht-Satellitenbasierter GPS-Technologie

Wir markierten 12 adulte Kuckucke (Cuculus canorus) in ihren Brutgebieten in Ungarn mit nicht Satellitenbasierter GPS-UHF-Telemetrie. Ein Männchen und zwei Weibchen (eines davon zweimal) wurden in den folgenden Jahren erneut beobachtet. Die GPS-Daten zeigten ihre Zugrouten von und nach Afrika mit Namibia als südlichstem Punkt. Alle vier Routen zeigten den arttypischen Schleifenzug im Uhrzeigersinn. Obwohl in der Ornithologie derzeit nicht Satellitenbasierte GPS-UHF-Telemetrie mit Datenfernübertragung in erster Linie eingesetzt wird, um Bewegungen im Territorium aufzuzeichnen, könnte sie auch die Vogelzugforschung ergänzen, vor allem dann, wenn eine höhere räumliche Auflösung gewünscht wird.

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Acknowledgements

Funding was provided by the National Research, Development and Innovation Office, Hungary, to CM (grant no. NN118194). AF was supported by the ÚNKP-16-3-IV New National Excellence Program of the Ministry of Human Capacities of Hungary. We thank István Zsoldos, Nikoletta Geltsch and others for their help with fieldwork, and Danielle Allen for assistance with editing.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. MTA-DE ‘Lendület’ Behavioural Ecology Research Group, Department of Evolutionary Zoology and Human Biology, University of Debrecen, Egyetem tér 1, Debrecen, 4032, Hungary

    Miklós Bán & Attila Fülöp

  2. MTA-ELTE-MTM Ecology Research Group, a Joint Research Group of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, The Biological Institute of the Eötvös Lóránd University and the Hungarian Natural History Museum, Baross u. 13, Budapest, 1088, Hungary

    Csaba Moskát

  3. Department of Animal Biology, School of Integrative Biology, University of Illinois, Urbana–Champaign, IL, 61801, USA

    Márk E. Hauber

Authors
  1. Miklós Bán
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  2. Csaba Moskát
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  3. Attila Fülöp
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  4. Márk E. Hauber
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Miklós Bán.

Additional information

Communicated by N. Chernetsov.

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Bán, M., Moskát, C., Fülöp, A. et al. Return migration of Common Cuckoos (Cuculus canorus) between breeding grounds in Hungary and wintering grounds in Africa as documented by non-PTT GPS technology. J Ornithol 159, 337–344 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-017-1508-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-017-1508-x

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