Spring and autumn migration of the red-breasted flycatcher through the Kizilirmak delta, Turkey

The red-breasted flycatcher Ficedula parva is a small passerine bird that breeds in Eastern Europe and across central Asia and winters on the Indian subcontinent. Birds from the western extreme of the breeding range migrating to and from the wintering grounds utilise a large longitudinal component en route that is not typical of the majority of European passerines. Therefore, it is one of the lesser-known species in Europe with respect to migration and biometrics. The aim of this study is to describe the numbers, phenology and biometry of the red-breasted flycatcher in relation to age, sex and migration season at a stopover site in northern Turkey. The number of individuals ringed in autumn was six times higher than in the spring passage. Furthermore, the period of the spring passage was shorter than in autumn, and in spring males migrate six days earlier than females and juveniles; no such differences were found in autumn. Moreover, migrants carried more fuel reserves in spring than in autumn and no differences were recorded in the length of stopover duration. The study underlines the importance of further research into passerine migration across Turkey to better understand the whole migratory system of movements of the Palaearctic migratory passerine populations.

Evolution of the Western Palaearctic Passerine Migration Pattern Presentation Style

The scientific knowledge available in many detailed studies needs, from time to time, some generalization that allows to provide a synthesis or at least presentation of certain problem to both, scientific community and wide public interested in the topic. This article presents evolution of the presentation style of spatial course of the passerine migration in the Western Palaearcic. According to developing knowledge in the topic the style of presentation of general migration pattern evolved from a “line–arrow ” style suggesting that the birds use narrow “corridors” to more adequate to the phenomenon “carpet” style with called as “bottle-necks” concentrations being local and temporal effects of existing migratory barriers and guiding lines as maritime coasts, mountains and deserts. These details of migratory flyways are less visible in nocturnal passerine migrants than diurnal movements of both of passerines and gliding big birds. Generally, according to spatial relations between breeding and wintering areas of the bird populations living in Western Palaearctic four main flyways are defined and presented on maps: Western (Atlantic), Central (Apennine), South- Eastern (Balkan) and Eastern (Indian). Their background lies in the post-ice age history of distribution changes of the bird species, but details still evolve.

Migration of Passerines through some Protected Areas in the Eastern Part of Egypt

Ibrahim W.A.L., Busse P. 2012. Migration of passerines through some protected areas in theeastern part of Egypt. Ring 34: 69-205. The fieldwork - catching and ringing birds using mist-nets - were conducted at several sites during both spring and autumn migration seasons in 2001-2008. These sites were: Burullus Protected Area, Wadi El Rayan Protected Area, Hurghada, Sharm El Shiekh (Ras Mohamed National Park), Saluga and Ghazala Protected Area and Wadi El Gemal Protected Area. Altogether 21 site/seasons were covered (9 in spring and 12 autumn). In the most cases the work in a season lasted 1-2 months and the timing of work was not standardized. This make the results not exactly compatible, but still this is a first so wide study of the mainly passerine migration over the area. The aim of this paper is to make accessible the basic information on passerine migration there. Some non-passerines, that are more easily caught with mist-nets or that are caught ocassionally are listed too. Altogether 19 748 individuals of 117 species were ringed in spring and 11 238 individuals in autumn. The data are presented in the text as faunistics style lists of birds caught in spring and autumn separately, as tables of birds ringed at stations and those that show relative abundance and dominance of species and in Appendices I and II (for spring and autumn) as maps with average numbers per station and as seasonal number dynamics - total for seasons and yearly, if possible. The data included in the paper are treated as a source information about migration over the area studied, while the more detailed data about migration pattern, measurements, stopover ecology will be evaluated in next papers being under preparation.

Autumnal patterns of nocturnal passerine migration in the St. Lawrence estuary region, Quebec, Canada: a weather radar study

We documented the pattern of nocturnal passerine migration on each side of the St. Lawrence estuary (Côte-Nord north and Gaspésie south), using the Doppler Canadian weather surveillance radar of Val d’Irène (XAM). We examined whether autumnal migrants flew across the St. Lawrence, resulting in a uniform broad-front migration, or avoided crossing it, resulting in a bird concentration along the north coast. We found that a proportion of migrants crossed the estuary but that most followed the north coast. Ranges at which birds were detected were, on average, greater on Côte-Nord, thereby rejecting the uniform broad-front migration hypothesis, inasmuch as reflectivity measurements suggested that bird concentrated along Côte-Nord. The mean flight direction on Côte-Nord was southwest but shifted westward as the night progressed, avoiding crossing the estuary by late night. In Gaspésie, the mean flight direction over land was south and no directional shift was observed throughout the night. Flight altitude reach up to 1000 m above sea level (a.s.l.), but migratory activity was highest in the first 500 m a.s.l. It appears that the St. Lawrence estuary acts as a leading line and a barrier for nocturnal passerine migrants, and likely shapes migration farther south in Canada and in the United States.