Carryâover effects and compensation: late arrival on nonâbreeding grounds affects wing moult but not plumage or schedules of departing barâtailed godwits Limosa lapponica baueri
2012
Conklin, Jesse R. | Battley, Phil F.
In the annual cycle of migratory birds, temporal and energetic constraints can lead to carryâover effects, in which performance in one life history stage affects later stages. Barâtailed godwits Limosa lapponica baueri, which achieve remarkably high preâmigratory fuel loads, undertake the longest nonâstop migratory flights yet recorded, and breed during brief highâlatitude summers, may be particularly vulnerable to persistent effects of disruptions to their rigidlyâtimed annual routines. Using three years of nonâbreeding data in New Zealand, we asked how arrival timing after a nonâstop flight from Alaska (>11 000 km) affected an individual godwit's performance in subsequent flight feather moult, contour feather moults, and migratory departure. Late arrival led to later wing moult, but godwits partially compensated for delayed moult initiation by increasing moult rate and decreasing the total duration of moult. Delays in arrival and wing moult up to 34–37 d had no apparent effect on an individual's migratory departure or extent of breeding plumage at departure, both of which were extraordinarily consistent between years. Thus, ‘errors’ in timing early in the nonâbreeding season were essentially corrected in New Zealand prior to spring migration. Variation in migration timing also had no apparent effect on an individual's likelihood of returning the following season. The barâtailed godwits’ rigid maintenance of plumage and spring migration schedules, coupled with high annual survival, imply a surprising degree of flexibility to address unforeseen circumstances in the annual cycle.
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