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Migratory flight on the Pacific Flyway : Strategies and tendencies of wind drift compensation

Newcombe, Patrick B. ; Nilsson, Cecilia LU orcid ; Lin, Tsung Yu ; Winner, Kevin ; Bernstein, Garrett ; Maji, Subhransu ; Sheldon, Daniel ; Farnsworth, Andrew and Horton, Kyle G. (2019) In Biology letters 15(9).
Abstract

Applications of remote sensing data to monitor bird migration usher a new understanding of magnitude and extent of movements across entire flyways. Millions of birds move through the western USA, yet this region is understudied as a migratory corridor. Characterizing movements in the Pacific Flyway offers a unique opportunity to study complementary patterns to those recently highlighted in the Atlantic and Central Flyways. We use weather surveillance radar data from spring and autumn (1995–2018) to examine migrants’ behaviours in relation to winds in the Pacific Flyway. Overall, spring migrants tended to drift on winds, but less so at northern latitudes and farther inland from the Pacific coastline. Relationships between winds and... (More)

Applications of remote sensing data to monitor bird migration usher a new understanding of magnitude and extent of movements across entire flyways. Millions of birds move through the western USA, yet this region is understudied as a migratory corridor. Characterizing movements in the Pacific Flyway offers a unique opportunity to study complementary patterns to those recently highlighted in the Atlantic and Central Flyways. We use weather surveillance radar data from spring and autumn (1995–2018) to examine migrants’ behaviours in relation to winds in the Pacific Flyway. Overall, spring migrants tended to drift on winds, but less so at northern latitudes and farther inland from the Pacific coastline. Relationships between winds and autumn flight behaviours were less striking, with no latitudinal or coastal dependencies. Differences in the preferred direction of movement (PDM) and wind direction predicted drift patterns during spring and autumn, with increased drift when wind direction and PDM differences were high. We also observed greater total flight activity through the Pacific Flyway during the spring when compared with the autumn. Such complex relationships among birds’ flight strategies, winds and seasonality highlight the variation within a migration system. Characterizations at these scales complement our understanding of strategies to clarify aerial animal movements.

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Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; ; ; ; ; ; and
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
keywords
Aeroecology, Bird migration, Pacific Flyway, Radar, Remote sensing, Wind drift
in
Biology letters
volume
15
issue
9
article number
20190383
publisher
Royal Society Publishing
external identifiers
  • pmid:31530114
  • scopus:85072294568
ISSN
1744-9561
DOI
10.1098/rsbl.2019.0383
language
English
LU publication?
no
additional info
Publisher Copyright: © 2019 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.
id
c7a1e16d-a6ab-4063-a5ef-e15ae7211709
date added to LUP
2023-08-30 11:40:12
date last changed
2024-05-18 05:45:31
@article{c7a1e16d-a6ab-4063-a5ef-e15ae7211709,
  abstract     = {{<p>Applications of remote sensing data to monitor bird migration usher a new understanding of magnitude and extent of movements across entire flyways. Millions of birds move through the western USA, yet this region is understudied as a migratory corridor. Characterizing movements in the Pacific Flyway offers a unique opportunity to study complementary patterns to those recently highlighted in the Atlantic and Central Flyways. We use weather surveillance radar data from spring and autumn (1995–2018) to examine migrants’ behaviours in relation to winds in the Pacific Flyway. Overall, spring migrants tended to drift on winds, but less so at northern latitudes and farther inland from the Pacific coastline. Relationships between winds and autumn flight behaviours were less striking, with no latitudinal or coastal dependencies. Differences in the preferred direction of movement (PDM) and wind direction predicted drift patterns during spring and autumn, with increased drift when wind direction and PDM differences were high. We also observed greater total flight activity through the Pacific Flyway during the spring when compared with the autumn. Such complex relationships among birds’ flight strategies, winds and seasonality highlight the variation within a migration system. Characterizations at these scales complement our understanding of strategies to clarify aerial animal movements.</p>}},
  author       = {{Newcombe, Patrick B. and Nilsson, Cecilia and Lin, Tsung Yu and Winner, Kevin and Bernstein, Garrett and Maji, Subhransu and Sheldon, Daniel and Farnsworth, Andrew and Horton, Kyle G.}},
  issn         = {{1744-9561}},
  keywords     = {{Aeroecology; Bird migration; Pacific Flyway; Radar; Remote sensing; Wind drift}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{9}},
  publisher    = {{Royal Society Publishing}},
  series       = {{Biology letters}},
  title        = {{Migratory flight on the Pacific Flyway : Strategies and tendencies of wind drift compensation}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2019.0383}},
  doi          = {{10.1098/rsbl.2019.0383}},
  volume       = {{15}},
  year         = {{2019}},
}