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1 January 2011 Weather Effects on Autumn Nocturnal Migration of Passerines on Opposite Shores of the St. Lawrence Estuary
François Gagnon, Jacques Ibarzabal, Jean-Pierre L. Savard, Pierre Vaillancourt, Marc Bélisle, Charles M. Francis
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Abstract

We modeled migration intensity as a function of weather, using nightly migration measurements from Doppler surveillance weather radar during autumn migration on the north (Côte-Nord) and south (Gaspésie) shores of the St. Lawrence estuary, Québec, Canada. The radar had negative elevation angles, an uncommon characteristic among weather radars, which allowed simultaneous low-altitude monitoring of bird migration on each side of the estuary. Precipitation and wind both had strong effects on the intensity of migration. Very few birds migrated when >40% of the area had precipitation, especially when winds were strong. Light winds were associated with the strongest migration intensity, regardless of wind direction; in stronger winds, migration was likely only when winds were predominantly from the north. Days immediately after adverse weather events, which are assumed to lead to an accumulation of migrants, were associated with an increase in the intensity of migration in Côte-Nord, but not in Gaspésie. Time since the passage of a cold front had no effect in either region. Bird flight direction and behavior in relation to wind differed on each side of the estuary. On Côte-Nord, birds tended to migrate in a southwesterly direction along the St. Lawrence north coast, in a direction relatively unaffected by wind direction; they compensated or overcompensated for wind drift by following the coast. By contrast, birds in Gaspésie tended to fly in a more southerly direction. They migrated partially or almost fully downwind with only limited compensation, their flight direction often changing with wind direction.

© 2011 by The American Ornithologists' Union. All rights reserved. Please direct all requests for permission to photocopy or reproduce article content through the University of California Press's Rights and Permissions website, http://www.ucpressjournals.com/reprintInfo.asp.
François Gagnon, Jacques Ibarzabal, Jean-Pierre L. Savard, Pierre Vaillancourt, Marc Bélisle, and Charles M. Francis "Weather Effects on Autumn Nocturnal Migration of Passerines on Opposite Shores of the St. Lawrence Estuary," The Auk 128(1), 99-112, (1 January 2011). https://doi.org/10.1525/auk.2011.09161
Received: 31 August 2009; Accepted: 1 November 2010; Published: 1 January 2011
KEYWORDS
circular regression
migratory behavior
modeling
nocturnal migration
predictive models
songbird migration
weather radar
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