Tuesday, July 5, 2022
SCIENMAG: Latest Science and Health News
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME PAGE
  • BIOLOGY
  • CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS
  • MEDICINE
    • Cancer
    • Infectious Emerging Diseases
  • SPACE
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • CONTACT US
  • HOME PAGE
  • BIOLOGY
  • CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS
  • MEDICINE
    • Cancer
    • Infectious Emerging Diseases
  • SPACE
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • CONTACT US
No Result
View All Result
Scienmag - Latest science news from science magazine
No Result
View All Result
Home SCIENCE NEWS Biology

Backyard bird feeding sparks a songbird ‘reverse migration’

April 14, 2021
in Biology
0
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

ITHACA, N.Y. – Eurasian Blackcaps are spunky and widespread warblers that breed across much of Europe. Many of them migrate south to the Mediterranean region and Africa after the breeding season. But thanks to a changing climate and an abundance of food resources offered by people across the United Kingdom and Ireland, some populations of Blackcaps have recently been heading north for the winter, spending the colder months in backyard gardens of the British Isles.

New research published this week in Global Change Biology shows some of the ways that bird feeders, fruit-bearing plants, and a warming world are changing both the movements and the physiology of the Blackcaps that spend the winter in Great Britain and Ireland.

“Many migratory birds are in decline, but the Blackcap seems to be thriving in a changing world,” says Benjamin Van Doren, a postdoctoral researcher at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and lead author of the paper.

The research team, consisting of scientists from Oxford University, British Trust for Ornithology, and Max Planck Institute, banded hundreds of birds at dozens of sites across the British Isles and recruited community scientists to report sightings of the birds at feeders over the course of four winters. They also tracked several dozen individuals with geolocators to follow their migrations throughout the year.

Their study showed that Blackcaps wintering in the British Isles move around much less than their southern-wintering counterparts–especially later in the winter. They are also more likely to return to the same sites from one winter to the next. The authors believe the availability of food is the main reason for the difference.

“Birds that winter in the Mediterranean and Africa are primarily eating fruit and moving large distances to track local food abundance,” says Van Doren. “Blackcaps wintering in British and Irish gardens have a steady, predictable food supply, and as a result they move around a lot less.”

Additionally, the British- and Irish-wintering Blackcaps appear to be in better shape. Researchers found birds frequenting gardens to be in better body condition and maintain smaller fat reserves than the more transient individuals in the study–and birds carrying less fat have an easier time avoiding predators. These birds were also able to make a speedier return journey in the spring, arriving back around 10 days earlier than those wintering in the Mediterranean and Africa–a considerable advantage at a crucial time of year.

The researchers even found that gardens may be influencing Blackcap anatomy: those in gardens had longer bills and more rounded wingtips, traits that may be linked to their more generalist diet and sedentary winter lifestyle.

“Our results show that individual Blackcaps have great flexibility in their movement patterns and how they respond to environmental conditions,” Van Doren says. “Species with this kind of flexibility will probably be better equipped to face environmental changes in the coming decades.”

###

Reference: Benjamin Van Doren, et al. Human activity shapes the wintering ecology of a migrating bird. Global Change Biology. April, 2021. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/gcb.15597

Media Contact
Marc Devokaitis
[email protected]
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15597

Tags: Biology
Share25Tweet16Share4ShareSendShare
  • The COVID virus invading a cell

    COVID-19 fattens up our body’s cells to fuel its viral takeover

    97 shares
    Share 39 Tweet 24
  • Alcohol changes brain activity differently in male and female mice

    66 shares
    Share 26 Tweet 17
  • Scientists discover cancer trigger that could spur targeted drug therapies

    65 shares
    Share 26 Tweet 16
  • Scientists discover key to hepatitis A virus replication, show drug effectiveness

    65 shares
    Share 26 Tweet 16
  • Study shows convalescent plasma doesn’t benefit severely ill patients hospitalized with COVID-19

    65 shares
    Share 26 Tweet 16
  • New imaging technology less accurate than MRI at detecting prostate cancer, trial shows

    66 shares
    Share 26 Tweet 17
ADVERTISEMENT

About us

We bring you the latest science news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Latest NEWS

nTIDE May 2022 COVID Update: Uncertainty about inflation tempers good news for people with disabilities

COVID-19 fattens up our body’s cells to fuel its viral takeover

The pair of Orcas deterring Great White Sharks – by ripping open their torsos for livers

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 190 other subscribers

© 2022 Scienmag- Science Magazine: Latest Science News.

No Result
View All Result
  • HOME PAGE
  • BIOLOGY
  • CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS
  • MEDICINE
    • Cancer
    • Infectious Emerging Diseases
  • SPACE
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • CONTACT US

© 2022 Scienmag- Science Magazine: Latest Science News.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
Posting....