Abstract
Since 1899 ringing (or banding) remained the most important source of information about migration routes, stopover sites and wintering grounds for birds that are too small to carry satellite-based tracking systems. Despite the large quantity of migrating birds ringed in their breeding areas in Europe, the number of ring recoveries from sub-Saharan Africa is very low and therefore the whereabouts of most small bird species outside the breeding season remain a mystery. With new miniaturized light-level geolocators it is now possible to look beyond the limits of ring recovery data. Here we show for the first time year round tracks of a near passerine trans-Saharan migrant, the European Hoopoe (Upupa epops epops). Three birds wintered in the Sahel zone of Western Africa where they remained stationary for most of the time. One bird chose a south-easterly route following the Italian peninsula. Birds from the same breeding population used different migration routes and wintering sites, suggesting a low level of migratory connectivity between breeding and wintering areas. Our tracking of a near passerine bird, the European Hoopoe, with light-level geolocators opens a new chapter in the research of Palaearctic-African bird migration as this new tool revolutionizes our ability to discover migration routes, stopover sites and wintering grounds of small birds.
Highlights
The difficulties in tracking small animals, birds, throughout an entire migratory cycle have impeded our understanding of migratory connectivity [1]
The current size and weight of satellite tags is too large for equipping small birds [1], which represent the vast majority of migratory birds [5]
The results from this study demonstrate the enormous potential of light-level geolocators for studying migration of small birds
Summary
The difficulties in tracking small animals, birds, throughout an entire migratory cycle have impeded our understanding of migratory connectivity [1] Indirect methods such as stable isotopes [2] or genetic markers [3] have provided useful insights, but for tracking animal movements, these techniques still have important drawbacks and provide information on large geographical scales only [1,4]. The current size and weight of satellite tags is too large for equipping small birds [1], which represent the vast majority of migratory birds [5] Due to these limitations ringing (or banding), introduced in 1899 [6], has remained the most important source of our knowledge about large scale movements of small birds [7]. This is true for Africa, where reports of recoveries are rare due to the low population density and because people are less aware of the significance of such recoveries [8,9]
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