Annual cycle and migration strategies of a trans-Saharan migratory songbird: a geolocator study in the great reed warbler.

ABSTRACT: Recent technological advancements now allow us to obtain geographical position data for a wide range of animal movements. Here we used light-level geolocators to study the annual migration cycle in great reed warblers (Acrocephalus arundinaceus), a passerine bird breeding in Eurasia and wintering in sub-Saharan Africa. We were specifically interested in seasonal strategies in routes and schedules of migration. We found that the great reed warblers (all males, no females were included) migrated from the Swedish breeding site in early August. After spending up to three weeks at scattered stopover sites in central to south-eastern Europe, they resumed migration and crossed the Mediterranean Sea and Sahara Desert without lengthy stopovers. They then spread out over a large overwintering area a

SUBMITTER: Lemke HW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3799637 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature