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Nocturnal Landbird Migration over Southern Ontario, Canada: Orientation vs. Wind in Autumn

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Avian Navigation

Part of the book series: Proceedings in Life Sciences ((LIFE SCIENCES))

Abstract

Landbird migration on 88 clear nights was observed with the moon-watch method. Nightly Migration Traffic Rate (MTR) ranged from 0 to 29 844 birds km−1 h−1; the mean MTR’s with northerly, near calm, and southerly winds were 4815, 4471, and 436 birds km−1 h−1. With SE-SW winds, low and similar numbers of birds moved N and S; with other winds far more moved S than N. Nightly mean tracks were strongly correlated with surface winds and winds aloft, but were downwind only when winds were NW-NE. Calculated headings were not correlated with wind direction. The apparent wind-drift effect was probably partly attributable to pseudodrift, but was partly real.

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© 1982 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Richardson, W.J. (1982). Nocturnal Landbird Migration over Southern Ontario, Canada: Orientation vs. Wind in Autumn. In: Papi, F., Wallraff, H.G. (eds) Avian Navigation. Proceedings in Life Sciences. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-68616-0_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-68616-0_2

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-68618-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-68616-0

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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