Alternate non-stop migration strategies of pied flycatchers to cross the Sahara desert

作者：Ouwehand Janne^*; Both Christiaan

来源：Biology Letters, 2016, 12(4): 20151060.

DOI：10.1098/rsbl.2015.1060

• Ficedula hypoleuca
• Afro-Palaearctic passerine
• fuelling
• migration strategy
• Sahara desert

Each year more than two billion songbirds cross the Sahara, but how they perform this formidable task is largely unknown. Using geolocation tracks from 27 pied flycatchers, a nocturnally migrating passerine, we show that most birds made diurnal flights in both autumn and spring. These diurnal flights were estimated to be part of non-stop flights of mostly 40-60 h. In spring, birds flew across the Sahara, while autumn migration probably circumpassed part of the desert, through a long oversea flight. Our data contradict claims that passerines cross the Sahara by intermittent flight and daytime resting. The frequent occurrence of long non-stop flights to cross the desert shows migrants' physiological abilities and poses the question why this would not be the general migration strategy to cross the Sahara.

• 出版日期2016-4-1