Breeding latitude drives individual schedules in a trans-hemispheric migrant bird

Jesse R. Conklin (), Phil F. Battley, Murray A. Potter and James W. Fox
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Jesse R. Conklin: Ecology Group, Institute of Natural Resources, Massey University
Phil F. Battley: Ecology Group, Institute of Natural Resources, Massey University
Murray A. Potter: Ecology Group, Institute of Natural Resources, Massey University
James W. Fox: British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environment Research Council

Nature Communications, 2010, vol. 1, issue 1, 1-6

Abstract: Abstract Despite clear benefits of optimal arrival time on breeding grounds, migration schedules may vary with an individual bird's innate quality, non-breeding habitat or breeding destination. Here, we show that for the bar-tailed godwit (Limosa lapponica baueri), a shorebird that makes the longest known non-stop migratory flights of any bird, timing of migration for individual birds from a non-breeding site in New Zealand was strongly correlated with their specific breeding latitudes in Alaska, USA, a 16,000–18,000 km journey away. Furthermore, this variation carried over even to the southbound return migration, 6 months later, with birds returning to New Zealand in approximately the same order in which they departed. These tightly scheduled movements on a global scale suggest endogenously controlled routines, with breeding site as the primary driver of temporal variation throughout the annual cycle.

Date: 2010
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms1072

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