Welcome to the American Ornithological Society 2018 Annual Conference. We are pleased to have you join us at the lovely Hilton El Conquistador Resort in Tucson, AZ.
Understanding of long-distance migration has increased rapidly since the emergence of miniaturized tracking devices but knowledge gaps still exist – especially for small migratory songbirds. We compiled tracking data from 11 long-distance Neotropical migratory songbird species to test several assumptions of what are generally considered as truth and to determine whether there are migratory behaviors that hold across species. We found several patterns that emerged and that applied across species after controlling for phylogeny. First, migration duration is shorter and airspeed (m/s) is faster after controlling for wind generated flow-assistance during spring. However, species appear to use time minimization strategies in both seasons. Second, departure dates determine arrival in the subsequent season during both spring and fall which is affected by latitude. Third, loop migration is not universal within or across species, some individuals' exhibit loop migration while others do not. Lastly, individuals undertake riskier migratory behaviors (energetically costly) over ecological barriers during spring compared to fall and when behind in their annual program – regardless of season. The patterns we found are nearly ubiquitous across the long-distance Neotropical migratory songbirds studied here suggesting there are general ‘rules' of migration.
