A circannual perspective on daily and total flight distances in a long-distance migratory raptor, the Montagu's harrier, Circus pygargus. (30th June 2017)
- Record Type:
- Journal Article
- Title:
- A circannual perspective on daily and total flight distances in a long-distance migratory raptor, the Montagu's harrier, Circus pygargus. (30th June 2017)
- Main Title:
- A circannual perspective on daily and total flight distances in a long-distance migratory raptor, the Montagu's harrier, Circus pygargus
- Authors:
- Schlaich, Almut E.
Bouten, Willem
Bretagnolle, Vincent
Heldbjerg, Henning
Klaassen, Raymond H. G.
Sørensen, Iben H.
Villers, Alexandre
Both, Christiaan - Abstract:
- Abstract : Long-distance migrants are particularly recognized for the distances covered on migration, yet little is known about the distances they cover during the rest of the year. GPS-tracks of 29 Montagu's harriers from breeding areas in France, The Netherlands and Denmark showed that harriers fly between 35 653 and 88 049 km yr −1, of which on average only 28.5% is on migration. Mean daily distances during migration were 296 km d −1 in autumn and 252 km d −1 in spring. Surprisingly, males' daily distances during breeding (217 km d −1 ) were close to those during migration, whereas breeding females moved significantly less (101 km d −1 ) than males. In terms of flight distance, the breeding season seemed nearly as demanding as migration periods for males. During the six winter months, both sexes moved less (114 and 128 km d −1 for females and males, respectively) than during migration. Harriers therefore covered shorter daily distances during winter which might allow birds to compensate for the more demanding phases of migration and breeding.
- Is Part Of:
- Biology letters. Volume 13:Number 6(2017)
- Journal:
- Biology letters
- Issue:
- Volume 13:Number 6(2017)
- Issue Display:
- Volume 13, Issue 6 (2017)
- Year:
- 2017
- Volume:
- 13
- Issue:
- 6
- Issue Sort Value:
- 2017-0013-0006-0000
- Page Start:
- Page End:
- Publication Date:
- 2017-06-30
- Subjects:
- total annual distance -- long-distance migration -- annual routine -- bird of prey
Biology -- Periodicals
570.5 - Journal URLs:
- https://royalsocietypublishing.org/journal/rsbl ↗
- DOI:
- 10.1098/rsbl.2017.0073 ↗
- Languages:
- English
- ISSNs:
- 1744-9561
- Deposit Type:
- Legaldeposit
- View Content:
- Available online (eLD content is only available in our Reading Rooms) ↗
- Physical Locations:
- British Library HMNTS - ELD Digital store
- Ingest File:
- 25103.xml