Northern Wheatear - longest migration for weight (1 Viewer)

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Simon Wates

Well-known member

• Nov 1, 2016

• #1

Evidence showing Northern Wheatear's incredible migration routes:
http://rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/8/4/505

I see that this is from 2012 - apologies if its already been covered. I thought it was worth posting anyway - a very good read!

 

Last edited: Nov 1, 2016

Nutcracker

Stop Brexit!

• Nov 1, 2016

• #2

Simon Wates said:

longest migration for weight

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I'd disagree - that goes to eastern Willow Warblers Phylloscopus trochilus yakutensis, which fly as far (15,000-16,000 km, [FONT=Roboto, Arial, sans-serif]Anadyr area, Chukotka peninsula[/FONT], NE Siberia to Natal, South Africa), but are only half the weight of a Northern Wheatear :t:

 

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Simon Wates

Well-known member

• Nov 1, 2016

• #3

Nutcracker said:

I'd disagree - that goes to eastern Willow Warblers Phylloscopus trochilus yakutensis,

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I didn't realise they went to south Africa - wow!

To be fair I mis-quoted the article - it says that NW has one of the longest migrations of any bird considering its weight.

I thought the N.Wheatear article was fascinating - bearing in mind the birds were geo-tagged. They are travelling from Alaska to east Africa - 14,500kms - phew!

This hasn't been done for EWW has it?

 

Last edited: Nov 1, 2016

Nutcracker

Stop Brexit!

• Nov 1, 2016

• #4

Yep, still fascinating! No, not done for Willow Warblers yet, and likely can't; a 1.2 g geolocator is OK for a 25 g bird, but not for an 8-12 g bird.

 

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hampers

Hampers

• Nov 1, 2016

• #5

Simon Wates said:

I didn't realise they went to south Africa - wow!

To be fair I mis-quoted the article - it says that NW has one of the longest migrations of any bird considering its weight.

I thought the N.Wheatear article was fascinating - bearing in mind the birds were geo-tagged. They are travelling from Alaska to east Africa - 14,500kms - phew!

This hasn't been done for EWW has it?

Click to expand...

Superb thanks Simon.

Phil

 

CARERY

Well-known member

• Nov 6, 2016

• #6

Geolocators are down to 0.5g nowadays, or even less. Possibly the bigger problem is someone needs to trap and retrap EWWs in Siberia in two consecutive years...

 

Nutcracker

Stop Brexit!

• Nov 6, 2016

• #7

CARERY said:

Geolocators are down to 0.5g nowadays, or even less. Possibly the bigger problem is someone needs to trap and retrap EWWs in Siberia in two consecutive years...

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Good to know such tiny ones are now available. Might be easier to base the study in South Africa, of course :t:

 

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Simon Wates

Well-known member

• Nov 6, 2016

• #8

Nutcracker said:

Good to know such tiny ones are now available. Might be easier to base the study in South Africa, of course :t:

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I would think the chances of recapture at a breeding site would be much more workable?

 

Nutcracker

Stop Brexit!

• Nov 6, 2016

• #9

Perhaps, yes, though wintering birds (in general, dunno about WW specifically) apparently often use the same wintering territories year after year.

 

njlarsen

Gallery Moderator

Opus Editor

Supporter

• Nov 16, 2016

• #10

I do not have a reference but I believe there was a story maybe 20 years ago about a ringed N Wheatear being caught in Denmark one day and in Spain the following day. Seems they can move quite well.

Niels

 

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davercox

Dave Cox

Supporter

• Nov 16, 2016

• #11

Eastern/Western ?

Interesting article, thank you Simon. One gripe - I see in the caption to Figure 1 they say "the three pre-defined wintering regions (red, western; orange, central; yellow, eastern)". But the map colours are exactly opposite to those. OK, I'll go back to sleep now.