Migratory performance in birds

How do migratory birds perform their migration? Are there physiological, behavioural or environmental limitations to how birds can manage their migration? During the last decade, tracking studies have yielded important new knowledge about spatial and temporal patterns of bird migration. But previous studies that investigated patterns of bird migration have been limited by loggers that could only collect spatiotemporal data at rather poor resolution (roughly telling us when birds are where). Now, new tracking technology developed at Lund University also allows recording of detailed behaviour of free-flying birds throughout their entire migratory journeys. The few studies that have yet employed this technology have open windows towards stunning new insights and seriously challenged previously assumed limits on peak flight altitudes, in-flight changes of altitudes and duration of individual flights, opening the field to a number of new research questions. The overarching goal of this PhD project is to explore the behavioural and physiological adaptations that make the extreme journeys of migratory birds possible. This will be accomplished by comparing tracks of different species, populations and age groups.