Abstract
AbstractThe migratory strategy of herons is poorly understood: only that of Purple Heron has been well studied. The migratory movements of three Night Herons from the Upper Vistula Valley (Poland) were studied using a GPS/GSM-tracking system in 2012. The results document a previously unknown autumn migration strategy of Night Herons with long stopovers en route, unlike that of Purple Herons. The different migration strategies of Purple Herons and Night Herons could be due to differences in wing-loadings and foraging ecology.
Highlights
The migratory strategy of long-distance migrating herons is poorly understood (Bernick 2005; Kushlan and Hancock 2005; Zwarts et al 2009; Van der Winden et al 2010)
As flapping flight incurs relatively high energy costs, we expected that, because of the higher wing loading (4.8 kg/m2) in comparison with Purple Heron (3.6 kg/m2), Night Heron should make at least one long stopover to refuel during migration, as do other species with a high wing loading (Alerstam et al 2007; Fig. 2 in Van der Winden et al 2010; e.g., Beekman et al 2002)
Our results show a hitherto unknown post-breeding migration strategy of adult Night Herons: traveling slowly with several long stopovers en route
Summary
The migratory strategy of long-distance migrating herons is poorly understood (Bernick 2005; Kushlan and Hancock 2005; Zwarts et al 2009; Van der Winden et al 2010). The main aim of this study was to investigate the postbreeding migration strategy of Night Herons from southern Poland, one of the northernmost stable breeding populations of this species in Europe (latitude 50°N; Betleja 2001) This implies a flight distance from Poland to the Sahel of at least 4,000 km (Betleja, 2001; Zwarts et al 2009). As flapping flight incurs relatively high energy costs, we expected that, because of the higher wing loading (4.8 kg/m2) in comparison with Purple Heron (3.6 kg/m2), Night Heron should make at least one long stopover to refuel during migration, as do other species with a high wing loading (Alerstam et al 2007; Fig. 2 in Van der Winden et al 2010; e.g., Beekman et al 2002) We tested this prediction by equipping adult Night Herons with GPS/ GSM transmitters to track their migration
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