Category: Acrocephalidae

High Migratory Fuel Loads Impair Predator Evasion in Sedge Warblers

Sedge Warbler (Acrocephalus schoenobaenus) Science Article 6 abstract During migration, many species of birds rely onstored fat for fuel. The extra mass taken on for migrationentails costs (Witter and Cuthill 1993). Timeand energy must be devoted to foraging to build upfat loads, and increased feeding may increase therisk of being attacked by predators. An additionalcost […]

The study of bird migration across the WesternSahara; a contribution with sound luring

Sedge Warbler (Acrocephalus schoenobaenus) Science Article 4 abstract During spring and autumn migration 2003, the Swiss Ornithological Institute set up a concerted project in Mauritania to study bird migration across the Sahara. I participated with a side project using artificial induction of landfall with sound luring in an attempt to overcome the potential problem of […]

How does age and body condition affect migratory restlessness and orientation in Reed Warblers Acrocephalus scirpaceus?

Sedge Warbler (Acrocephalus schoenobaenus) Science Article 2 abstract Orientation cage experiments were performed with 260 Reed Warblers on the southern coast of Spain during autumn 1996, in order to test the hypothesis that birds in good body condition should exhibit a higher amount of migratory restlessness and an activity concentrated more strongly towards one direction […]

Intraspecific variation in the wing shape of the long-distance migrant Reed Warbler Acrocephalus scirpaceus: effects of age and distance of migration

Reed-Warbler (Acrocephalus scirpaceus) Science Article 1 abstract The wing morphology of Reed Warblers Acrocephalus scirpaceus was studied during the breeding and non-breeding cycle in a western Mediterranean area. Wing morphology was first analysed by means of a principal component analysis (PCA) on primary lengths, which corrects for allometric effects on wing shape. Two-way ANOVAs were […]

Movement patterns of European Reed Warblers Acrocephalus scirpaceus and Sedge Warblers A. schoenobaenus before and during autumn migration.

Reed-Warbler (Acrocephalus scirpaceus) Science Article 7 abstract The foraging movements of European Reed Warblers Acrocephalus scirpaceus and Sedge Warblers Acrocephalus schoenobaenus at migratory stopover sites were studied by comparing the frequency distribution of distances between capture-recapture localities of individual birds with a simulation model of a random distribution of movements. The results indicate that Reed […]

Stabilising selection on wing length in reed warblers Acrocephalus scirpaceus

Reed-Warbler (Acrocephalus scirpaceus) Science Article 6 abstract The size of an animal is of utmost importance for its overall success and each species is thought to have its own optimal size. If this is true, size traits ought to be under stabilising selection unless the animal is living in a highly unstable environment. Wing length […]

Migration routes of North European Reed Warblers Acrocephalusscirpaceus

Reed-Warbler (Acrocephalus scirpaceus) Science Article 5 abstract Migration routes of expanding North European Reed Warbler populations were investigated by means of more than 2500 recoveries of birds ringed in Norway, Sweden and Finland. We found different autumn directions: from Norway SSW 195 deg -200 deg , from Sweden SSW-SW 211 deg -216 deg , and […]

Gap crossing decisions by reed warblers (Acrocephalus scirpaceus)in agricultural landscapes

Reed-Warbler (Acrocephalus scirpaceus) Science Article 3 abstract To meet the need for research on the requirements for corridors for marshland birds, this study set out toquantify gap crossing decisions made by reed warblers moving through the landscape. In three experiments,reed warblers were released into landscape situations with di?erent gap sizes and their movement towardsreed patches […]