Study
Two types of orientation in migrating starlings and chaffinches, as revealed by displacement experiments
Perdeck, Albert C.
Ardea, 1958
More than eleven thousand starlings were trapped in the Netherlands during autumn migration, ringed, transported several hundred kilometres south to Switzerland, and released. Recoveries were plotted separately for adults, which had migrated before, and juveniles making their first journey.
- Studied in
- Sturnus vulgaris, Fringilla coelebs
- Sample size
- 11000 starlings caught on migration, ringed and released off-route
Juveniles continued on the original compass heading from the new starting point and ended up in Spain, well outside the normal wintering range. Adults corrected, changing heading to reach their usual wintering grounds in northern France and Britain.
What it means
The authors' reading, and ours. Where they differ, that difference is the point.
How the authors put it
First-year birds navigate by an inherited compass direction and distance; experienced birds acquire a true navigational ability that allows them to correct for displacement.
How NatureHQ reads it
One experiment separating two things that the phrase "migration instinct" merges. A young bird inherits a heading and a duration, which is enough to get it somewhere plausible and no help at all if it is moved. An adult that has made the trip knows where it is, which is a different and much harder capability. It is also the cleanest demonstration in the literature that migration is partly learned.
- Recoveries depend on birds being found and reported, which varies enormously by region.
- Displacement is itself a severe manipulation with unknown effects on condition and motivation.
- Two species in one flyway; the split between inherited and learned navigation may differ elsewhere.
Moving eleven thousand starlings to see what they would do
Is migration one ability or several? Specifically: does a bird know where it is, or only which way to fly?
What this study is used for on NatureHQ
One study can inform several subjects. Here is everywhere this one is cited.
Bird migration
A first-year bird follows an inherited direction; an adult can correct for being moved
Animal navigation
Knowing which way is south does not tell an animal where it is. A compass gives direction; working out position from an unfamiliar place is a separate ability, and far fewer animals have been shown to have it.
Bird migration
Carry a migrating bird a thousand kilometres sideways and what happens next depends on its age. Adults turn towards where they were going. Birds on their first migration carry on as though nothing had happened.
Bird migration
A young bird inherits a direction and roughly how long to fly, not a route. Cross two populations that head different ways and the offspring head between them.
Published by: Wiley journalsPublished in a Wiley journal.
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