Autumn migration speed of the chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs L.) migrating across Europe as shown by ringing results in Eastern Baltic

Abstract

An analysis of the speed of autumn migration is based on 224 ringing recoveries selected from 1866 recoveries of the Chaffinch caught in 1957–1997 at the Rybachy Biological station on the Courish Spit, Eastern Baltic. It was found that in all individuals pooled the migration speed varies between 20.0 and 284.8 km·day–1 and the average speed is 53.5 km·day–1. No significant differences in migration speed were found among different years and between males and females (aged and not aged pooled). Adults migrate significantly faster than first-year birds. Weak correlation between migration distance and speed of movement in all Chaffinches analyzed and higher speed of adults wintering further south than first-year birds implies the tendency to faster speed in birds traveled farther. No difference in migration speed was found between early- and late-migrating individuals, in contrast to findings in many other migratory species.