Journal
AUK
Volume 130, Issue 2, Pages 230-239Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC
DOI: 10.1525/auk.2013.12229
Keywords
annual cycle; habitat use; migration; stopover sites; Tachycineta bicolor; Tree Swallow
Categories
Funding
- Canadian Foundation for Innovation
- Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
- Bird Studies Canada
- Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources
- Newcomb College Institute at Tulane University
- National Science Foundation [DBI-0905885, IIS-1125228]
- Environment Canada
- Direct For Biological Sciences
- Division Of Environmental Biology [1242573] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
- Direct For Computer & Info Scie & Enginr
- Div Of Information & Intelligent Systems [1125228] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
- Div Of Biological Infrastructure
- Direct For Biological Sciences [1152131] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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Determining the distribution of stopover and overwintering areas of migratory animals is essential for understanding population dynamics and building predictive models. Tree Swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) are small songbirds that breed across North America. Data from Doppler weather radar and eBird indicate that Tree Swallow numbers increase throughout October and November in southeastern Louisiana, but then decrease during December. We thus hypothesized that southeastern Louisiana is a stopover area used by Tree Swallows during fall migration before they move to farther overwintering areas. We tested this hypothesis by attaching light-logging geolocators to Tree Swallows at five breeding sites spanning the species' breeding range from British Columbia to Nova Scotia, and then tracking their fall migration routes, stopover sites, and wintering locations. Of 38 individuals that returned in the following breeding season, 11 birds from three breeding sites (Saskatchewan, Wisconsin, and Ontario) used southeastern Louisiana as a stopover site. Arrival date and duration of stay closely matched observations from both eBird and radar data. From Louisiana, most Tree Swallows continued their migration to one of three wintering sites: peninsular Florida, the Bahamas, or the Yucatan Peninsula, whereas two birds remained until spring within 200 km of the stopover area. Our results (1) suggest that southeastern Louisiana is an extended stopover site for Tree Swallows that originate from a wide geographic range on the breeding grounds; and (2) demonstrate how geolocators, combined with other sources of movement information, reveal habitat use throughout the annual cycle.
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