Individual timing consistency across long‐distance songbird migrations

TL;DR

Purple martins show consistent migration timing across long distances and multiple seasons, likely due to internal biological clocks.

Contribution

This study provides empirical evidence of consistent individual migration timing in purple martins over extended periods and distances.

Findings

Individual purple martins maintain consistent migration timing across fall and spring events.

Consistency in migration timing decreases with increasing migration distance.

Timing appears to be driven by inherent circannual schedules rather than environmental cues alone.

Abstract

Migration timing in long‐distance migratory birds plays an essential role in individual survival and fitness and is thought to be driven by circannual routines cued by photoperiod with some plasticity to environmental conditions. We examined the individual order of migration timing in purple martins (Progne subis), a neotropical migratory songbird that travels between breeding sites throughout eastern North America and nonbreeding sites in Brazil. Migration timing data were collected for 295 different individual purple martins over 9 years using light‐level geolocators deployed at breeding sites across the range. We used linear mixed‐effect models to examine the influence of the rank order of individual departure dates in one season on the rank order of four subsequent migration events while controlling for the effects of breeding latitude, sex, and age. Overall, we found evidence for consistent individual timing that can extend across 8 months and 12,000–24,000 km of migration. Individual rank order of migration timing in purple martins was generally conserved across migrations with consistent timings between fall departure dates from, and spring arrival dates to the breeding site the following year (0.28 ± 0.03, 95% CI 0.22–0.34), as well as at a finer scale across fall migration (0.33 ± 0.05, 95% CI 0.23–0.43), over the stationary nonbreeding period (0.39 ± 0.04, 95% CI 0.31–0.47), and across spring migration (0.03 ± 0.001, 95% CI 0.028–0.032). These results demonstrate that purple martins exhibit consistency in individual migration timing throughout the annual cycle that is likely driven by inherent individual circannual schedules. We additionally found that migration distance played a significant role, as the consistency of individual timing lessened over longer distances. Understanding how individual birds time migrations and if individuals are consistent between events can provide insight into how birds respond to shifts in their environment with climate change.

We used a linear mixed‐effect model to examine the individual rank order of migration of 295 purple martins across their native breeding range. We found evidence for consistent individual timing that can extend across 8 months and 12,000–24,000 km of migration throughout the four yearly migration events with the consistency declining over longer ranges. This demonstrates that individual purple martin migration timing is likely driven by inherent individual circannual schedules.

Figures