Data from: Longer days enable higher diurnal activity for migratory birds [Himalayan griffons] ...

• Main Authors: Sherub, Sherub, Wikelski, Martin
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: Movebank Data Repository 2021
• Subjects: Gyps himalayensis; accelerometer; animal behavior; animal movement; animal tracking; avian migration; bio-logging; GSM telemetry; Himalayan vulture; life history; seasonality; Arctic
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5441/001/1.4n2501f5; https://www.datarepository.movebank.org/handle/10255/move.1293

(1) Seasonal geophysical cycles strongly influence the activity of life on Earth because they affect environmental conditions like temperature, precipitation, and daylength. An increase in daylight availability during summer is especially enhanced when animals migrate along a latitudinal gradient. Yet, the question of how daylength (i.e. daylight availability) influences the activity patterns of long‐distance, latitudinal migrants is still unclear. (2) Here, we ask whether migration provides benefits to long‐distance migrants by enabling them to increase their diurnal movement activities due to an increase in daylight availability. To answer this question, we tested whether four vastly different species of long‐distance migratory birds--two arctic migrants and two mid‐latitude migrants--can capitalise on day length changes by adjusting their daily activity. (3) We quantified the relationship between daily activity (measured using accelerometer data) and day length, and estimated each species' daily activity ...