Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 16 April 2004:
Vol. 304. no. 5669, pp. 405 - 408
DOI: 10.1126/science.1095844
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Research Articles

Migrating Songbirds Recalibrate Their Magnetic Compass Daily from Twilight Cues

William W. Cochran,1* Henrik Mouritsen,2 Martin Wikelski3

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.

1 Illinois Natural History Survey, 607 East Peabody Drive, Champaign, IL 61820, USA.
2 Volkswagen Nachwuchsgruppe Animal Navigation, Institute of Biology, University of Oldenburg, D-26111 Oldenburg, Germany.
3 Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Guyot Hall 303, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA.



* Present address: 1204 West Union Street, Champaign, IL 61821, USA.

E-mail: Sparrow{at}springnet1.com (W.W.C.); Henrik.mouritsen{at}uni-oldenburg.de (H.M.); Wikelski{at}princeton.edu (M.W.)

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
The bird GPS - long-range navigation in migrants.
K. Thorup and R. A. Holland (2009)
J. Exp. Biol. 212, 3597-3604
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Cryptochromes--a potential magnetoreceptor: what do we know and what do we want to know?.
M. Liedvogel and H. Mouritsen (2009)
J R Soc Interface
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Night-migratory garden warblers can orient with their magnetic compass using the left, the right or both eyes.
C. M. Hein, M. Zapka, D. Heyers, S. Kutzschbauch, N.-L. Schneider, and H. Mouritsen (2009)
J R Soc Interface
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
White-throated sparrows calibrate their magnetic compass by polarized light cues during both autumn and spring migration.
R. Muheim, J. B. Phillips, and M. E. Deutschlander (2009)
J. Exp. Biol. 212, 3466-3472
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Under Cover of Darkness: Nocturnal Life of Diurnal Birds.
A. Mukhin, V. Grinkevich, and B. Helm (2009)
J Biol Rhythms 24, 225-231
   Abstract »    PDF »
Circadian flight schedules in night-migrating birds caught on migration.
T. Coppack, S. F Becker, and P. J.J Becker (2008)
Biol Lett 4, 619-622
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Aeroecology: probing and modeling the aerosphere.
T. H. Kunz, S. A. Gauthreaux Jr, N. I. Hristov, J. W. Horn, G. Jones, E. K. V. Kalko, R. P. Larkin, G. F. McCracken, S. M. Swartz, R. B. Srygley, et al. (2008)
Integr. Comp. Biol. 48, 1-11
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Wingbeat frequency and flap-pause ratio during natural migratory flight in thrushes.
W. W. Cochran, M. S. Bowlin, and M. Wikelski (2008)
Integr. Comp. Biol. 48, 134-151
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Fuel stores, fuel accumulation, and the decision to depart from a migration stopover site.
M. Schaub, L. Jenni, and F. Bairlein (2008)
Behav. Ecol.
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Evidence for a navigational map stretching across the continental U.S. in a migratory songbird.
K. Thorup, I.-A. Bisson, M. S. Bowlin, R. A. Holland, J. C. Wingfield, M. Ramenofsky, and M. Wikelski (2007)
PNAS 104, 18115-18119
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Going wild: what a global small-animal tracking system could do for experimental biologists.
M. Wikelski, R. W. Kays, N. J. Kasdin, K. Thorup, J. A. Smith, and G. W. Swenson Jr (2007)
J. Exp. Biol. 210, 181-186
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Simple rules guide dragonfly migration.
M. Wikelski, D. Moskowitz, J. S Adelman, J. Cochran, D. S Wilcove, and M. L May (2006)
Biol Lett 2, 325-329
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Conflicting evidence about long-distance animal navigation..
T. Alerstam (2006)
Science 313, 791-794
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
How and why do insects migrate?.
R. A. Holland, M. Wikelski, and D. S. Wilcove (2006)
Science 313, 794-796
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Polarized light cues underlie compass calibration in migratory songbirds..
R. Muheim, J. B. Phillips, and S. Akesson (2006)
Science 313, 837-839
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Calibration of magnetic and celestial compass cues in migratory birds - a review of cue-conflict experiments.
R. Muheim, F. R. Moore, and J. B. Phillips (2006)
J. Exp. Biol. 209, 2-17
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Night-vision brain area in migratory songbirds.
H. Mouritsen, G. Feenders, M. Liedvogel, K. Wada, and E. D. Jarvis (2005)
PNAS 102, 8339-8344
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Multi-modal Orientation Cues in Homing Pigeons.
C. Walcott (2005)
Integr. Comp. Biol. 45, 574-581
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Biotelemetry of New World thrushes during migration: Physiology, energetics and orientation in the wild.
M. S. Bowlin, W. W. Cochran, and M. C. Wikelski (2005)
Integr. Comp. Biol. 45, 295-304
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Seeing the light: Illumination as a contextual cue to color choice behavior in bumblebees.
R. B. Lotto and L. Chittka (2005)
PNAS 102, 3852-3856
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Orientation in the wandering albatross: interfering with magnetic perception does not affect orientation performance.
F Bonadonna, C Bajzak, S Benhamou, K Igloi, P Jouventin, H.P Lipp, and G Dell'Omo (2005)
Proc R Soc B 272, 489-495
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Cryptochromes and neuronal-activity markers colocalize in the retina of migratory birds during magnetic orientation.
H. Mouritsen, U. Janssen-Bienhold, M. Liedvogel, G. Feenders, J. Stalleicken, P. Dirks, and R. Weiler (2004)
PNAS 101, 14294-14299
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)