On 4 June 2008 Siberian Red Knots at Elbe Mouth kissed the canonical evening migration departure rule goodbye

Observations of departing Siberian-breeding Red Knots Calidris canutus canutus from their central staging site during northward migration, the Schleswig-Holstein Wadden Sea, Germany, in early June 2008, challenge the established notion that departing long-distance migrating waders only leave around...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Ardea
Main Authors: Leyrer, Jutta, Pruiksma, Sytze, Piersma, Theunis
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: 2009
Subjects:
Calidris canutus canutus
diurnal timing
long-distance flights
migration
shorebirds
twilight advantages
vocalization
CUE-CONFLICT EXPERIMENTS
BAR-TAILED GODWIT
CALIDRIS-CANUTUS
SPRING MIGRATION
BANC-DARGUIN
OENANTHE-OENANTHE
MAGNETIC COMPASS
CELESTIAL CUES
CENTRAL ISRAEL
C-CANUTUS
Calidris canutus
Tundra
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/11370/f0436d8d-3d11-40e3-bf20-55a43b7415b4
https://research.rug.nl/en/publications/f0436d8d-3d11-40e3-bf20-55a43b7415b4
https://doi.org/10.5253/078.097.0109
https://pure.rug.nl/ws/files/6736159/2009ArdeaLeyrer.pdf
Description
Summary:Observations of departing Siberian-breeding Red Knots Calidris canutus canutus from their central staging site during northward migration, the Schleswig-Holstein Wadden Sea, Germany, in early June 2008, challenge the established notion that departing long-distance migrating waders only leave around sunset. During four days we scanned several thousand Red Knots for colour-ringed individuals and found a total of 20 different individuals that were previously ringed at either their main wintering site, the Banc d'Arguin in Mauritania, or at stopover sites on the Atlantic coast of France. Body masses of captured Red Knots in Schleswig-Holstein were higher than 200 g and hematocrite values showed an average of 58%, clearly indicating that they were ready for take-off. On all except one evening, we noted impressive departure movements during the incoming tide. On that exceptional evening a cold front thunderstorm passed over the area. Late the next morning, thousands of Red Knots departed during the incoming tide. We assume that the birds avoided taking off in adverse weather conditions and elaborate why Red Knots presumably traded off advantages from departing during twilight. We suggest that during spring migration, schedules are so tight that further delays decrease fitness, either because it would cause another full day of exposure to high predation risk by falcons, or because of conditions upon arrival on the tundra.

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