Avian metabolism Costs of migration in free-flying songbirds

Billions of songbirds migrate between continents twice each year, but the energy costs of this feat have never been measured for free-flying individuals. Here we follow New World Catharus thrushes during their nocturnal migratory flights, recapturing individuals after journeys of up to 600 km and de...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inNature (London) Vol. 423; no. 6941; p. 704
Main Authors Wikelski, Martin, Tarlow, Elisa M, Raim, Arlo, Diehl, Robert H, Larkin, Ronald P, Visser, G. Henk
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published England Nature Publishing Group 12.06.2003
Subjects
Adipose Tissue
Animal Migration
Animals
Body Temperature Regulation
Body Weight
Climate
Energy Metabolism
Flight, Animal
Isotopes
Models, Biological
Seasons
Songbirds - blood
Songbirds - metabolism
Temperature
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Summary:Billions of songbirds migrate between continents twice each year, but the energy costs of this feat have never been measured for free-flying individuals. Here we follow New World Catharus thrushes during their nocturnal migratory flights, recapturing individuals after journeys of up to 600 km and determining their energy expenditure by using doubly labelled water. Although flight itself is costly, our results confirm the counterintuitive prediction that songbirds expend double the amount of energy during stopovers that they spend on flight over their entire migration.
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ISSN:0028-0836
1476-4687
DOI:10.1038/423704a