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Influence of body condition and weather on departures of first-year European robins, Erithacus rubecula, from an autumn migratory stopover site

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Abstract

How migratory birds decide when to leave a stopover site is important to the understanding of bird migration strategies. Our study looks at how body condition and the weather affect the decision to depart on nocturnal migratory flight. During two autumn migration seasons (2002–2003), we radio tracked 51 first-year European robins, Erithacus rubecula, at a stopover site on the Courish Spit (Eastern Baltic) from the first day after landing until their migratory departure. The tagged robins stopped over for 1–14 days. There was no clear relationship between stopover duration and energetic condition on arrival. Weather conditions (wind, precipitation, and cloud cover) on departure differed measurably between years. In 2002, robins took off mainly under following winds and clear skies. In 2003, there were mainly light head winds and partially cloudy or overcast skies. This could be explained by the year-specific role of weather factors in making the decision to depart. In both years, robins making short (1–2 days) stopovers took off in more varied weather situations than those individuals with long stopovers. This suggests that robins from the former group were more inclined to continue with migration than longer-stay birds that, apart from re-fuelling, could be waiting for favourable weather. The lack of a relationship between stopover duration and body condition and some departures under unfavourable weather conditions suggest that endogenous spatiotemporal programmes may play an important role in controlling stopover duration in robins.

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Acknowledgement

The authors are grateful to the staff of the Biological Station Rybachy and many volunteers for their help in the fieldwork. Constructive criticism by Dr. C. V. Bolshakov, N. Chernetsov, P. Ktitorov, A. Mukhin, M. Schaub, J. Delingat and anonymous referee were most helpful in improving an earlier draft. The English language was much improved by John Walder. This study was supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (grant no. 02-04-48608 to C. V. Bolshakov and grant no. 04-04-49161 to V. N. Bulyuk) and the Russian Science Support Foundation. The methods used in this study comply with the laws of the Russian Federation.

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  1. Biological Station Rybachy of Zoological Institute RAS, Biological Station Rybachy, Rybachy, 238535, Kaliningrad Region, Russia

    Arseny Tsvey, Victor N. Bulyuk & Vlad Kosarev

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  1. Arseny Tsvey
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  2. Victor N. Bulyuk
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  3. Vlad Kosarev
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Correspondence to Arseny Tsvey.

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Communicated by W. Wiltschko

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Tsvey, A., Bulyuk, V.N. & Kosarev, V. Influence of body condition and weather on departures of first-year European robins, Erithacus rubecula, from an autumn migratory stopover site. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 61, 1665–1674 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-007-0397-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-007-0397-z

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