How to translate text using browser tools
1 August 2013 Wing Shape Influences Stopover Strategies in a Migratory Shorebird, The Common Snipe
Piotr Minias, Krzysztof Kaczmarek, Radosław Włodarczyk, Tomasz Janiszewski
Author Affiliations +
Abstract

The basic assumption in the morphology of avian migrants is that longer, more pointed and concave wings are well adapted for long-distance migratory flights. We investigated how wingtip morphology of the Common Snipe was associated with aspects of its migration, such as amount of accumulated fat, refueling rates, length of stay at the stopover site, and timing of post-juvenile molt. Our study took place at the Jeziorsko reservoir, central Poland, where over 400 first-year Common Snipe (Gallinago gallinago) were caught in 2008 and 2009. Wing shape was found to correlate with different components of the species' stopover strategies. After controlling for the date of capture we found that first-year birds with wings adapted for efficient migration (pointed/concave wingtips) refueled more quickly and stayed for shorter times at the stopover site. Pointed/concave wing shape was also associated with accumulation of smaller fat reserves and later initiation of post-juvenile molt during the period of migration. By contrast, snipe having a wing shape adapted for predator evasion (rounded/convex wingtips) refueled more slowly, remained longer, and accumulated greater amounts of fat, which in turn facilitated earlier molting.

© 2013 by The Cooper Ornithological Society. All rights reserved. Please direct all requests for permission to photocopy or reproduce article content through the University of California Press's Rights and Permissions website, http://www.ucpressjournals.com/reprintInfo.asp.
Piotr Minias, Krzysztof Kaczmarek, Radosław Włodarczyk, and Tomasz Janiszewski "Wing Shape Influences Stopover Strategies in a Migratory Shorebird, The Common Snipe," The Condor 115(3), 535-542, (1 August 2013). https://doi.org/10.1525/cond.2013.120137
Received: 28 August 2012; Accepted: 1 November 2012; Published: 1 August 2013
RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS
Get copyright permission
Back to Top