Naive songbirds show seasonally appropriate spring orientation in the laboratory despite having never completed first migration

Abstract

The role of inherited orientation programmes in determining the outbound migratory routes of birds is increasingly well understood, though less is known about the influence of inherited information on return migration. Previous studies suggest that spatial gradient cues learnt through experience could be of considerable importance when relocating the natal site, though such cues could, in principle, augment rather than replace inherited migratory information. Here, we show that juvenile Eurasian blackcaps ( Sylvia atricapilla ) that have never left northwest Europe (i.e. never had the opportunity to learn navigational information on a continental scale) show significant spring orientation in a direction near-identical to that expected based on ringing recoveries from free-flying individuals. We suggest that this is probably indicative of birds inheriting an orientation programme for spring as well as autumn migration and speculate that, as long as the birds are not displaced far from their normal migration route, the use of inherited spring migratory trajectories might make uni-coordinate ‘stop signs’ sufficiently accurate for the long-distance targeting of their breeding sites.