Flight activity and effort of breeding pied flycatchers in the wild, revealed with accelerometers and machine learning
(2024) In Journal of Experimental Biology 227(19).- Abstract
- Flight behaviours of birds have been extensively studied from different angles such as their kinematics, aerodynamics and, more generally, their migration patterns. Nevertheless, much is still unknown about the daily foraging flight activity and behaviour of breeding birds, and potential differences among males and females. The recent development of miniaturized accelerometers allows us a glimpse into the daily life of a songbird. Here, we tagged 13 male and 13 female pied flycatchers (Ficedula hypoleuca) with accelerometers and used machine learning approaches to analyse their flight activity and effort during the chick rearing period. We found that during 2 h of foraging, chick-rearing pied flycatchers were flying on average 13.7% of the... (More)
- Flight behaviours of birds have been extensively studied from different angles such as their kinematics, aerodynamics and, more generally, their migration patterns. Nevertheless, much is still unknown about the daily foraging flight activity and behaviour of breeding birds, and potential differences among males and females. The recent development of miniaturized accelerometers allows us a glimpse into the daily life of a songbird. Here, we tagged 13 male and 13 female pied flycatchers (Ficedula hypoleuca) with accelerometers and used machine learning approaches to analyse their flight activity and effort during the chick rearing period. We found that during 2 h of foraging, chick-rearing pied flycatchers were flying on average 13.7% of the time. Almost all flights (>99%) were short flights lasting less than 10 s. Flight activity changed throughout the day and was highest in the morning and lowest in the early afternoon. Male pied flycatchers had lower wing loading than females, and in-flight accelerations were inversely correlated with wing loading. Despite this, we found no significant differences in flight duration and intensity between sexes. This suggests that males possess a higher potential flight performance, which they did not fully utilize during foraging flights. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/afdd4fbf-9203-4fde-8286-dbaf91779b7b
- author
- Yu, Hui ; Liang, Shujie ; Muijres, Florian T. LU ; Te Lindert, Jan Severin ; de Knegt, Henrik J. ; Hedenström, Anders LU ; Lamers, Koosje P. LU and Henningsson, Per LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2024-10-01
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- Journal of Experimental Biology
- volume
- 227
- issue
- 19
- article number
- jeb247606
- publisher
- The Company of Biologists Ltd
- external identifiers
-
- pmid:39284689
- scopus:85206824631
- ISSN
- 1477-9145
- DOI
- 10.1242/jeb.247606
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- afdd4fbf-9203-4fde-8286-dbaf91779b7b
- date added to LUP
- 2024-12-05 14:49:39
- date last changed
- 2025-04-04 14:07:10
@article{afdd4fbf-9203-4fde-8286-dbaf91779b7b,
abstract = {{Flight behaviours of birds have been extensively studied from different angles such as their kinematics, aerodynamics and, more generally, their migration patterns. Nevertheless, much is still unknown about the daily foraging flight activity and behaviour of breeding birds, and potential differences among males and females. The recent development of miniaturized accelerometers allows us a glimpse into the daily life of a songbird. Here, we tagged 13 male and 13 female pied flycatchers (Ficedula hypoleuca) with accelerometers and used machine learning approaches to analyse their flight activity and effort during the chick rearing period. We found that during 2 h of foraging, chick-rearing pied flycatchers were flying on average 13.7% of the time. Almost all flights (>99%) were short flights lasting less than 10 s. Flight activity changed throughout the day and was highest in the morning and lowest in the early afternoon. Male pied flycatchers had lower wing loading than females, and in-flight accelerations were inversely correlated with wing loading. Despite this, we found no significant differences in flight duration and intensity between sexes. This suggests that males possess a higher potential flight performance, which they did not fully utilize during foraging flights.}},
author = {{Yu, Hui and Liang, Shujie and Muijres, Florian T. and Te Lindert, Jan Severin and de Knegt, Henrik J. and Hedenström, Anders and Lamers, Koosje P. and Henningsson, Per}},
issn = {{1477-9145}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{10}},
number = {{19}},
publisher = {{The Company of Biologists Ltd}},
series = {{Journal of Experimental Biology}},
title = {{Flight activity and effort of breeding pied flycatchers in the wild, revealed with accelerometers and machine learning}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1242/jeb.247606}},
doi = {{10.1242/jeb.247606}},
volume = {{227}},
year = {{2024}},
}