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Extreme altitudes during diurnal flights in a nocturnal songbird migrant

Sjöberg, Sissel LU orcid ; Malmiga, Gintaras LU ; Nord, Andreas LU ; Andersson, Arne LU orcid ; Bäckman, Johan LU orcid ; Tarka, Maja LU ; Willemoes, Mikkel LU ; Thorup, Kasper ; Hansson, Bengt LU orcid and Alerstam, Thomas LU , et al. (2021) In Science 372(6542). p.646-648
Abstract

Billions of nocturnally migrating songbirds fly across oceans and deserts on their annual journeys. Using multisensor data loggers, we show that great reed warblers (Acrocephalus arundinaceus) regularly prolong their otherwise strictly nocturnal flights into daytime when crossing the Mediterranean Sea and the Sahara Desert. Unexpectedly, when prolonging their flights, they climbed steeply at dawn, from a mean of 2394 meters above sea level to reach extreme cruising altitudes (mean 5367 and maximum 6267 meters above sea level) during daytime flights. This previously unknown behavior of using exceedingly high flight altitudes when migrating during daytime could be caused by diel variation in ambient temperature, winds, predation, vision... (More)

Billions of nocturnally migrating songbirds fly across oceans and deserts on their annual journeys. Using multisensor data loggers, we show that great reed warblers (Acrocephalus arundinaceus) regularly prolong their otherwise strictly nocturnal flights into daytime when crossing the Mediterranean Sea and the Sahara Desert. Unexpectedly, when prolonging their flights, they climbed steeply at dawn, from a mean of 2394 meters above sea level to reach extreme cruising altitudes (mean 5367 and maximum 6267 meters above sea level) during daytime flights. This previously unknown behavior of using exceedingly high flight altitudes when migrating during daytime could be caused by diel variation in ambient temperature, winds, predation, vision range, and solar radiation. Our finding of this notable behavior provides new perspectives on constraints in bird flight and might help to explain the evolution of nocturnal migration.

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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Science
volume
372
issue
6542
pages
3 pages
publisher
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
external identifiers
  • scopus:85105461058
  • pmid:33958477
ISSN
0036-8075
DOI
10.1126/science.abe7291
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
8897c39f-b422-45e7-b355-0e9142f0164e
date added to LUP
2021-06-01 17:34:49
date last changed
2025-03-23 15:45:43
@article{8897c39f-b422-45e7-b355-0e9142f0164e,
  abstract     = {{<p>Billions of nocturnally migrating songbirds fly across oceans and deserts on their annual journeys. Using multisensor data loggers, we show that great reed warblers (Acrocephalus arundinaceus) regularly prolong their otherwise strictly nocturnal flights into daytime when crossing the Mediterranean Sea and the Sahara Desert. Unexpectedly, when prolonging their flights, they climbed steeply at dawn, from a mean of 2394 meters above sea level to reach extreme cruising altitudes (mean 5367 and maximum 6267 meters above sea level) during daytime flights. This previously unknown behavior of using exceedingly high flight altitudes when migrating during daytime could be caused by diel variation in ambient temperature, winds, predation, vision range, and solar radiation. Our finding of this notable behavior provides new perspectives on constraints in bird flight and might help to explain the evolution of nocturnal migration.</p>}},
  author       = {{Sjöberg, Sissel and Malmiga, Gintaras and Nord, Andreas and Andersson, Arne and Bäckman, Johan and Tarka, Maja and Willemoes, Mikkel and Thorup, Kasper and Hansson, Bengt and Alerstam, Thomas and Hasselquist, Dennis}},
  issn         = {{0036-8075}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{05}},
  number       = {{6542}},
  pages        = {{646--648}},
  publisher    = {{American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)}},
  series       = {{Science}},
  title        = {{Extreme altitudes during diurnal flights in a nocturnal songbird migrant}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.abe7291}},
  doi          = {{10.1126/science.abe7291}},
  volume       = {{372}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}