Individual foraging site fidelity persists within and across stopover seasons in a migratory shorebird, Numenius phaeopus (Whimbrel)

Abstract Site fidelity—returning repeatedly to the same site—can help many migratory species reduce uncertainty in their environment, especially when migratory stopover periods leave little time to explore and evaluate new habitat. Avian taxa, though, have shown wide variation in their levels of sit...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Ornithology 2024-05
Main Authors: Handmaker, Maina C, Sanders, Felicia J, Smith, Adam D, Shealy, Ethan P, Fontaine, Natasza, Kaplin, Madelyn B, Thibault, Janet M, Martin, Mary Catherine, Duquet, Camille, Sterling, Abby V, Senner, Nathan R
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:Abstract Site fidelity—returning repeatedly to the same site—can help many migratory species reduce uncertainty in their environment, especially when migratory stopover periods leave little time to explore and evaluate new habitat. Avian taxa, though, have shown wide variation in their levels of site fidelity during migration, and few studies have been able to examine individual-level fidelity at fine spatiotemporal scales. We used a high-resolution GPS tracking dataset of Numenius phaeopus (Whimbrel), a long-distance migratory shorebird, to assess levels of fidelity to specific foraging and roosting sites during migration, both within and between stopover seasons. We found that individuals are almost exclusively faithful to one shared roost site at night, but disperse to individual foraging territories during the day that overlap with each other by
ISSN:0004-8038
2732-4613
DOI:10.1093/ornithology/ukae021