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Stopover Duration

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Passerine Migration

Abstract

In this chapter I describe and critically discuss the methods of estimating stopover duration. Potential pitfalls of the capture-mark-recapture analysis are discussed, and radio telemetry is recommended. However, an important benefit of capture-mark-recapture models is that they not only provide estimates of the mean stopover duration, but often allow studying within-species diversity of stopover strategies. The empirical results from the literature are reviewed. It is concluded that the duration of migratory stopovers of songbirds usually varies between 1 and 15 days. Sometimes, especially before and just after crossing large ecological barriers (large water bodies, deserts) stopovers may be longer and reach 20–25 days, occasionally even longer. Significant proportions of migrants stop over for one day only and continue migration on the first night after arrival.

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  1. Biological Station Rybachy, Zoological Institute, Universitetskaya nab. 1, St. Petersburg, 199034, Russia

    Nikita Chernetsov

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Chernetsov, N. (2012). Stopover Duration. In: Passerine Migration. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-29020-6_2

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