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Avian Research 2018, 9(1): 15 https://doi.org/10.1186/s40657-018-0108-7
Research | Open Access | Issue | Published: 18 May 2018

Migration departure strategies of shorebirds at a final pre-breeding stopover site

Show Author's Information Kun Tan1,  Chi-Yeung Choi2,  Hebo Peng1,3,4,  David S. Melville5,  Zhijun Ma1( )
Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, Institute of Biodiversity Science, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China
Centre for Integrative Ecology, Deakin University, Geelong, VIC, Australia
NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, Department of Coastal Systems and Utrecht University, P.O. Box 59, 1790 AB Den Burg, Texel, The Netherlands
Global Flyway Ecology, Conservation Ecology Group, Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences (GELIFES), University of Groningen, P.O. Box 11103, 9799 CC Groningen, The Netherlands
Nelson, New Zealand
Keywords:
Migration, Shorebird, Stopover, Departure decision, Departure behavior, Wader, East Asian-Australasian Flyway
Cite this article:
Tan K, Choi C-Y, Peng H, et al. Migration departure strategies of shorebirds at a final pre-breeding stopover site. Avian Research, 2018, 9(1): 15. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40657-018-0108-7
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Abstract Full text About this article
Background

Departure decisions and behaviors of migratory birds at stopover sites are expected to maximize fitness by trade-offs among avoiding predators, optimizing refueling (energy) capacity, and matching other life-history events. We predict that species with different body sizes and migratory destinations will exhibit different behaviors when departing from the same stopover site. We also predict that with strong time constraint at the final pre-breeding stopover site, departure decisions may be less sensitive to exogenous factors, such as wind condition, compared to other stopover or nonbreeding sites.

Methods

We recorded migratory departures of four shorebird species, i.e. Eurasian Curlew (Numenius arquata), Bar-tailed Godwit (Limosa lapponica), Great Knot (Calidris tenuirostris), and Grey Plover (Pluvialis squatarola), at Yalujiang Estuary Wetlands in China, a final pre-breeding stopover site in the northern Yellow Sea, from 2011 to 2014. We compared flock sizes, departure time and departure directions between species, and investigated the effects of tide and weather conditions (rain and ground wind speed and direction) on the departure decision of shorebirds.

Results

We found that larger species departed in smaller flocks and were more variable in daily departure time. Departure trajectory of all four species appeared to be influenced by coastal topography. With the east-west coastline and intertidal mudflat on the south, birds exhibited westward or eastward deflection from the shortest migratory routes. Bar-tailed Godwit was the only species that deviated to the southeast and did not climb over the land. Birds avoided departure during precipitation, while their departure was not related to ground wind benefit or tidal condition.

Conclusions

Body size among species, which influences their vulnerability to predators, might be important in shaping shorebird departure strategies. Diverse departure directions could be the result of different wind use tactics in climbing stage. Narrow optimal time window of breeding might lead to reduced flexibility in departure date at a final pre-breeding site. Both endogenous and exogenous are important in shaping departure behaviors and decisions.


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About this article

Migration departure strategies of shorebirds at a final pre-breeding stopover site

Show Author's information Kun Tan1, Chi-Yeung Choi2, Hebo Peng1,3,4, David S. Melville5, Zhijun Ma1( )
Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, Institute of Biodiversity Science, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China
Centre for Integrative Ecology, Deakin University, Geelong, VIC, Australia
NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, Department of Coastal Systems and Utrecht University, P.O. Box 59, 1790 AB Den Burg, Texel, The Netherlands
Global Flyway Ecology, Conservation Ecology Group, Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences (GELIFES), University of Groningen, P.O. Box 11103, 9799 CC Groningen, The Netherlands
Nelson, New Zealand

Abstract

Background

Departure decisions and behaviors of migratory birds at stopover sites are expected to maximize fitness by trade-offs among avoiding predators, optimizing refueling (energy) capacity, and matching other life-history events. We predict that species with different body sizes and migratory destinations will exhibit different behaviors when departing from the same stopover site. We also predict that with strong time constraint at the final pre-breeding stopover site, departure decisions may be less sensitive to exogenous factors, such as wind condition, compared to other stopover or nonbreeding sites.

Methods

We recorded migratory departures of four shorebird species, i.e. Eurasian Curlew (Numenius arquata), Bar-tailed Godwit (Limosa lapponica), Great Knot (Calidris tenuirostris), and Grey Plover (Pluvialis squatarola), at Yalujiang Estuary Wetlands in China, a final pre-breeding stopover site in the northern Yellow Sea, from 2011 to 2014. We compared flock sizes, departure time and departure directions between species, and investigated the effects of tide and weather conditions (rain and ground wind speed and direction) on the departure decision of shorebirds.

Results

We found that larger species departed in smaller flocks and were more variable in daily departure time. Departure trajectory of all four species appeared to be influenced by coastal topography. With the east-west coastline and intertidal mudflat on the south, birds exhibited westward or eastward deflection from the shortest migratory routes. Bar-tailed Godwit was the only species that deviated to the southeast and did not climb over the land. Birds avoided departure during precipitation, while their departure was not related to ground wind benefit or tidal condition.

Conclusions

Body size among species, which influences their vulnerability to predators, might be important in shaping shorebird departure strategies. Diverse departure directions could be the result of different wind use tactics in climbing stage. Narrow optimal time window of breeding might lead to reduced flexibility in departure date at a final pre-breeding site. Both endogenous and exogenous are important in shaping departure behaviors and decisions.

Keywords: Migration, Shorebird, Stopover, Departure decision, Departure behavior, Wader, East Asian-Australasian Flyway

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Publication history

Received: 18 September 2017
Accepted: 10 May 2018
Published: 18 May 2018
Issue date: January 2018

Copyright

© The Author(s) 2018.

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

We thank the Yalu Estuarine Wetland Nature Reserve for their support for our fieldwork. We thank Qingquan Bai for his assistance in the field.

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