Migration and morphometrics of temminck's stint calidris temminckii at ottenby, southern sweden

Abstract

Data are reported from 55 years of ringing and observation on the migration of Temminck's Stint Calldris temminckii at Ottenby Bird Observatory, Sweden. Numbers ringed have declined since the 1940s due to high numbers caught in 1948 and 1949. Thereafter there is no clear trend. The overall autumn migration direction of 13 recoveries is south‐southwest, with a concentration of recoveries in northeast Italy. Median date of spring passage was 20 May, while median date of autumn passage was 28 July for adults and 20 August for juveniles. Hence, the duration of the breeding season is about two months. On autumn migration, adults carry larger fuel (fat) loads (32% of lean body mass, LBM) than juveniles (21.2%), and so adults are capable of a direct flight to the northeast Italian stopover, while the average juvenile cannot do so unless assisted by winds. Over the autumn migration season, fuel loads did not change in adults but late migrant juveniles had higher fuel loads. The maximum rate of fuel accumulation was 7.7% of LBM, which is near the physiological maximum. The maximum migration speed was estimated to be 150 km/day. © 2004 Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.