Abstract
Most of our current knowledge on migration strategies in juvenile light-weight birds originates from laboratory studies, displacement experiments and partial migration tracks. Here we report on the first recording of two consecutive migration cycles of one such light-weight migrant, the European Nightjar Caprimulgus europaeus. This bird visited the same stopover zones and wintering area in both years, but with earlier arrival times and less time spent at stopover zones in the second year. This unique dataset shows that adult nightjars seem to possess the capability to perform some form of navigation towards areas which are established during the juvenile migration.
Zusammenfassung
Wiederholter Zug eines juvenilen Ziegenmelkers Caprimulgus europaeus Der größte Teil unseres derzeitigen Wissens über Zugstrategien bei juvenilen Vögeln mit geringem Körpergewicht stammt aus Laboruntersuchungen, Verfrachtungsexperimenten und teilweiser Verfolgung der Zugwege. Hier beschreiben wir die erste Beobachtung zweier aufeinanderfolgender Migrationszyklen eines solchen juvenilen leichtgewichtigen Zugvogels, eines Ziegenmelkers Caprimulgus europaeus. Der Vogel besuchte in beiden Jahren dieselben Rast- und Überwinterungsgebiete; dabei kam er im zweiten Jahr früher an und verbrachte weniger Zeit in den Rastgebieten. Dieser einzigartige Datensatz zeigt, dass adulte Ziegenmelker die Fähigkeit zu besitzen scheinen, durch eine Art von Navigation Gebiete aufzusuchen, die sie als Jungvogel auf dem Zug kennengelernt haben.
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Acknowledgements
We thank Luc Lens, Dries Gorissen, Guido Winters, Eddy Ulenaers, Karen Vanmarcke, Albert Geuens, Lyndon Kearsley, Greg Conway, Ian Henderson and Nikki Watson for their support and relevant comments on this manuscript. RE is funded by a BOF-mandate (BSFFCMKDK) at Hasselt University. NW is funded as a postdoctoral researcher by FWO Flanders. Research equipment was funded by the Agency for Nature and Forest (ANB) (Belgium). Permission for this study was granted by the ANB and Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (Belgium), respectively.
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Communicated by N. Chernetsov.
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Evens, R., Beenaerts, N., Witters, N. et al. Repeated migration of a juvenile European Nightjar Caprimulgus europaeus . J Ornithol 158, 881–886 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-017-1459-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-017-1459-2