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Seasonal expression of migratory behavior in a facultative migrant, the pine siskin

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Abstract

The vast majority of what is known about migration comes from studies of obligate migration—regular and predictable “to-and-fro” seasonal movements. Much less is known about facultative migration, which occurs less predictably in space and time. Here, we use pine siskins (Spinus pinus), nomadic and irruptive finches, as a captive model to advance our understanding of facultative migration. Building on approaches used to study obligate migration, we investigate whether pine siskins exhibit migratory restlessness in captivity, similar to obligate migrants, and whether pine siskins express a seasonal pattern of migratory behavior. Pine siskins exhibited nocturnal migratory restlessness that was remarkably similar to that in obligate migrants; it was characterized by jumping and wing whirring behavior that was preceded by a period of quiescence. This behavior was expressed seasonally, peaking in the spring, when free-living pine siskins frequently migrate. As in many obligate migrants, migratory restlessness in pine siskins coincided with elevated body condition and showed minimal overlap with body molt. Although pine siskins are both nocturnal and diurnal migrants, patterns of diurnal activity did not mirror patterns of nocturnal activity and were more difficult to interpret. Free-living pine siskins frequently migrate in the fall, but in captivity showed no clear pattern of fall migratory restlessness. We suggest that this could reflect a relatively predictable and programmed spring migration and a more facultative fall migration.

Significance statement

Migrations are undertaken by a diverse array of animals and are important to the functioning of many ecosystems. The goal of this study was to shed light on an important, but understudied form of migration: facultative migration. Facultative migrations occur less predictably than the better-studied “to-and-fro” seasonal migrations of obligate migrants. Using a songbird, the pine siskin, as a model, we sought to determine if pine siskins express a migratory state in captivity and whether pine siskins exhibit a seasonal pattern of migratory behavior. We found that pine siskins showed behavioral and physiological changes associated with a migratory state, which were remarkably similar to those in obligate migrants. Pine siskins showed seasonal changes in migratory behavior in the study that suggest that this species has a predictable and programmed spring migratory period and a much more flexible fall migration.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Michael Lenihan, Amanda Wavrin, Heather Garcia, Katherine Boyd, Bruce Edley, Okensama La-Anyane, Jordan Rudack, and Tauras Vilgalys for their assistance with the experiments. We especially appreciate the help that Jamie Cornelius and Zoltán Németh provided. We thank two anonymous reviewers for comments on earlier drafts of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, CA, 90045, USA

    Heather E. Watts, Ashley R. Robart, Jasmine K. Chopra & Carmela E. Asinas

  2. Department of Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior, University of California, Davis, CA, 95616, USA

    Thomas P. Hahn & Marilyn Ramenofsky

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  1. Heather E. Watts
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  2. Ashley R. Robart
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  3. Jasmine K. Chopra
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  4. Carmela E. Asinas
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  6. Marilyn Ramenofsky
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Correspondence to Heather E. Watts.

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Funding

This research was supported by the National Science Foundation (IOS-1456954 to HEW, IOS-0744705 to TPH, and IOS-0920791 and ARC-1147289 to MR), the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (1F32HD056980 to HEW), as well as the Frank R. Seaver College of Science and Engineering at Loyola Marymount University and a Kadner-Pitts Research Grant (to HEW). The contents of this publication are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent official views of the NICHD or NIH.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

All applicable international, national, and institutional guidelines for the care and use of animals were followed. All procedures performed in studies involving animals were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institution at which the studies were conducted. This article does not contain any studies with human participants performed by any of the authors.

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Watts, H.E., Robart, A.R., Chopra, J.K. et al. Seasonal expression of migratory behavior in a facultative migrant, the pine siskin. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 71, 9 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-016-2248-2

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