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Behavioral Ecology Advance Access originally published online on March 11, 2008
Behavioral Ecology 2008 19(4):716-723; doi:10.1093/beheco/arn025
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© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Society for Behavioral Ecology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Acoustic information as a distant cue for habitat recognition by nocturnally migrating passerines during landfall

Andrey Mukhina,b, Nikita Chernetsova and Dmitry Kishkineva,c

a Biological Station Rybachy, Zoological Institute, Rybachy 238535, Kaliningrad Region, Russia b Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Von-Der-Tann-Strasse7, D-82346 Andechs, Germany c AG Neurosensorik (Animal Navigation), Institut für Biologie und Umweltwissenschaften, University of Oldenburg, D-26111 Oldenburg, Germany

Address correspondence to A. Mukhin. E-mail: a.l.mukhin{at}gmail.com.


  Abstract

During migration, birds must fly over suboptimal habitats differing from those selected during breeding and wintering. Nocturnally migrating passerines need to assess the suitability of potential stopover habitats during landfall. Before actual landfall, distant cues may play a significant role in habitat selection. In this paper, we studied the possibility that migrant songbirds use acoustic information as distant cues for habitat selection when ceasing flight. We also investigated differences between habitat generalists and specialists in their use of acoustic cues by comparing the proportion of species killed at lighthouses with those captured in mist nets using song playback in both suitable habitats and suboptimal stopover habitats during spring and fall migratory seasons. Our observations showed that during twilight landfall, birds may respond to acoustic cues, especially when visual cues are reduced or absent. This was true for habitat specialists (Eurasian reed warblers and sedge warblers) whose songs are also more attractive to conspecifics and other birds of wetland habitats than to habitat generalists (pied flycatchers and redwings). Adult Eurasian reed warblers had a tendency to be more attracted by acoustic cues than juveniles. This finding suggests that previous experience may play a role in habitat recognition using acoustic stimuli.

Key words: heterospecific attraction, lighthouses, song playback.

Received 3 April 2006; revised 5 March 2007; accepted 14 December 2007.


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