Sea crossings of migratory pink‐footed geese: seasonal effects of winds on flying and stopping behaviour
Migratory birds may need to cross barriers such as seas, without opportunities to rest or refuel. Waterbirds, unlike land birds, can stop at sea to rest or wait for better winds and thus may be less selective for supportive winds at departure and tolerate larger drift. However, pay‐offs of waiting a...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:17cb4e0109c84ed78673b354315acbc5 2023-05-15T13:30:00+02:00 Sea crossings of migratory pink‐footed geese: seasonal effects of winds on flying and stopping behaviour Jan Geisler Jesper Madsen Bart A. Nolet Kees H. T. Schreven 2022-10-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1111/jav.02985 https://doaj.org/article/17cb4e0109c84ed78673b354315acbc5 EN eng Wiley https://doi.org/10.1111/jav.02985 https://doaj.org/toc/0908-8857 https://doaj.org/toc/1600-048X 1600-048X 0908-8857 doi:10.1111/jav.02985 https://doaj.org/article/17cb4e0109c84ed78673b354315acbc5 Journal of Avian Biology, Vol 2022, Iss 10, Pp n/a-n/a (2022) breeding ecological barrier optimization strategy Svalbard transoceanic flight Biology (General) QH301-705.5 General. Including nature conservation geographical distribution QH1-199.5 article 2022 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1111/jav.02985 2022-12-30T21:50:00Z Migratory birds may need to cross barriers such as seas, without opportunities to rest or refuel. Waterbirds, unlike land birds, can stop at sea to rest or wait for better winds and thus may be less selective for supportive winds at departure and tolerate larger drift. However, pay‐offs of waiting are likely to depend on circumstances (e.g. pressure for well‐timed arrival, wind availability and travelling with/without juvenile brood), thus migratory behaviour during barrier crossings is expected to differ between seasons. We studied pink‐footed geese Anser brachyrhynchus crossing the Barents Sea (ca 650 km), in spring and autumn during 2018–2020, using 94 GPS‐tracks of 38 individuals, with annotated ERA5 weather data. We found that 1) especially in autumn, geese selected supportive winds for departure; 2) in spring, geese experienced lower wind support and more crosswinds than in autumn, leading to 23% longer routes, 60% longer durations, 93% longer air distances and 45% higher ratios of air‐to‐ground distances; 3) in both seasons, geese had more tailwinds in the first part of crossings, and in spring when deviating more from the shortest route; 4) geese stopped at sea more often in spring (mean 11×) than autumn (3×), in spring during earlier stages of crossings, but in both seasons, spent half of the crossing time at sea, during which they still continued to approach their destination slowly; 5) stops at sea happened mostly in adverse winds, warmer air, higher air humidity and on calmer water and, in autumn, took longer without juvenile brood. We conclude that for migrating pink‐footed geese, Arctic capital breeders, the importance of time and energy can shift en route and that seasonal differences in wind support, flying and stopping behaviour and the pressure for a well‐timed arrival cause the Barents Sea to be a larger barrier in spring than in autumn. Article in Journal/Newspaper Anser brachyrhynchus Arctic Barents Sea Svalbard Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Barents Sea Svalbard Journal of Avian Biology 2022 10 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
breeding ecological barrier optimization strategy Svalbard transoceanic flight Biology (General) QH301-705.5 General. Including nature conservation geographical distribution QH1-199.5 |
spellingShingle |
breeding ecological barrier optimization strategy Svalbard transoceanic flight Biology (General) QH301-705.5 General. Including nature conservation geographical distribution QH1-199.5 Jan Geisler Jesper Madsen Bart A. Nolet Kees H. T. Schreven Sea crossings of migratory pink‐footed geese: seasonal effects of winds on flying and stopping behaviour |
topic_facet |
breeding ecological barrier optimization strategy Svalbard transoceanic flight Biology (General) QH301-705.5 General. Including nature conservation geographical distribution QH1-199.5 |
description |
Migratory birds may need to cross barriers such as seas, without opportunities to rest or refuel. Waterbirds, unlike land birds, can stop at sea to rest or wait for better winds and thus may be less selective for supportive winds at departure and tolerate larger drift. However, pay‐offs of waiting are likely to depend on circumstances (e.g. pressure for well‐timed arrival, wind availability and travelling with/without juvenile brood), thus migratory behaviour during barrier crossings is expected to differ between seasons. We studied pink‐footed geese Anser brachyrhynchus crossing the Barents Sea (ca 650 km), in spring and autumn during 2018–2020, using 94 GPS‐tracks of 38 individuals, with annotated ERA5 weather data. We found that 1) especially in autumn, geese selected supportive winds for departure; 2) in spring, geese experienced lower wind support and more crosswinds than in autumn, leading to 23% longer routes, 60% longer durations, 93% longer air distances and 45% higher ratios of air‐to‐ground distances; 3) in both seasons, geese had more tailwinds in the first part of crossings, and in spring when deviating more from the shortest route; 4) geese stopped at sea more often in spring (mean 11×) than autumn (3×), in spring during earlier stages of crossings, but in both seasons, spent half of the crossing time at sea, during which they still continued to approach their destination slowly; 5) stops at sea happened mostly in adverse winds, warmer air, higher air humidity and on calmer water and, in autumn, took longer without juvenile brood. We conclude that for migrating pink‐footed geese, Arctic capital breeders, the importance of time and energy can shift en route and that seasonal differences in wind support, flying and stopping behaviour and the pressure for a well‐timed arrival cause the Barents Sea to be a larger barrier in spring than in autumn. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Jan Geisler Jesper Madsen Bart A. Nolet Kees H. T. Schreven |
author_facet |
Jan Geisler Jesper Madsen Bart A. Nolet Kees H. T. Schreven |
author_sort |
Jan Geisler |
title |
Sea crossings of migratory pink‐footed geese: seasonal effects of winds on flying and stopping behaviour |
title_short |
Sea crossings of migratory pink‐footed geese: seasonal effects of winds on flying and stopping behaviour |
title_full |
Sea crossings of migratory pink‐footed geese: seasonal effects of winds on flying and stopping behaviour |
title_fullStr |
Sea crossings of migratory pink‐footed geese: seasonal effects of winds on flying and stopping behaviour |
title_full_unstemmed |
Sea crossings of migratory pink‐footed geese: seasonal effects of winds on flying and stopping behaviour |
title_sort |
sea crossings of migratory pink‐footed geese: seasonal effects of winds on flying and stopping behaviour |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1111/jav.02985 https://doaj.org/article/17cb4e0109c84ed78673b354315acbc5 |
geographic |
Arctic Barents Sea Svalbard |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Barents Sea Svalbard |
genre |
Anser brachyrhynchus Arctic Barents Sea Svalbard |
genre_facet |
Anser brachyrhynchus Arctic Barents Sea Svalbard |
op_source |
Journal of Avian Biology, Vol 2022, Iss 10, Pp n/a-n/a (2022) |
op_relation |
https://doi.org/10.1111/jav.02985 https://doaj.org/toc/0908-8857 https://doaj.org/toc/1600-048X 1600-048X 0908-8857 doi:10.1111/jav.02985 https://doaj.org/article/17cb4e0109c84ed78673b354315acbc5 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/jav.02985 |
container_title |
Journal of Avian Biology |
container_volume |
2022 |
container_issue |
10 |
_version_ |
1766004750781775872 |