Migrating Songbirds Recalibrate Their Magnetic Compass Daily from Twilight Cues

Details Migrating Songbirds Recalibrate Their Magnetic Compass Daily from Twilight Cues Migrating Songbirds Recalibrate Their Magnetic Compass Daily from Twilight Cues

Apr 2004

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2004sci...304..405c&link_type=abstract

Science, Volume 304, Issue 5669, pp. 405-408 (2004).

Computer Science

17

Scientific paper

Night migratory songbirds can use stars, sun, geomagnetic field, and polarized light for orientation when tested in captivity. We studied the interaction of magnetic, stellar, and twilight orientation cues in free-flying songbirds. We exposed Catharus thrushes to eastward-turned magnetic fields during the twilight period before takeoff and then followed them for up to 1100 kilometers. Instead of heading north, experimental birds flew westward. On subsequent nights, the same individuals migrated northward again. We suggest that birds orient with a magnetic compass calibrated daily from twilight cues. This could explain how birds cross the magnetic equator and deal with declination.

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