Abstract
We tracked pallid swifts (Apus pallidus brehmorum) from a single breeding colony in Gibraltar over two years. Our results show movement of birds between specific regions within the non-breeding geographical area at specific times of the year. The tracking of a single individual showed remarkable fidelity to the areas visited between years. Furthermore, two pallid swifts tracked over the entire eight-month non-breeding period, while in Africa, gave no indication of coming to land, supporting previous findings of an airborne existence in swifts outside the breeding season. In addition, the crossing of the Sahara Desert to and from breeding grounds is remarkably fast, with one individual crossing it in just over a day. We discuss our findings in the context of bird migration evolutionary strategies.
Highlights
The classic view of migratory birds is one of species that move annually between two homes [1,2,3]
Areas used by pallid swifts during the annual cycle
We examined the distribution of pallid swifts by latitude
Summary
The classic view of migratory birds is one of species that move annually between two homes [1,2,3]. In this long-established view migratory birds migrate between breeding grounds and winter quarters, and back This perspective of migration has been conditioned to a large extent by bird ringing [4], with the routes of birds ringed in the breeding grounds and recovered in the winter quarters, or vice-versa, being depicted as straight lines (https://euring.org/research/ migration-atlases). These lines create the impression of a single movement between these two homes. We show, using GPS loggers, that pallid swifts (Apus pallidus brehmorum) do not conform to the classical pattern of a bird with two homes
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