For the first time, University of Guelph biologists have tracked an annual migration of up to 20,000 kilometres made by the 12-gram blackpoll warbler, one of the fastest declining songbirds in North America.
For the first time, University of Guelph biologists have tracked an annual migration of up to 20,000 kilometres made by the 12-gram blackpoll warbler, one of the fastest declining songbirds in North America.
The bird’s trek between its breeding grounds in the central and western boreal forest of North America and its winter home in the Amazon Basin – one of the longest songbird migrations recorded — is the topic of a new paper by a research team headed by U of G biologist Ryan Norris.
The paper was published today in the journal Ecology.
Describing a “great circle route” arcing across North America and including a transoceanic flight to South America, the study confirms an epic migration journey that scientists had long suspected but not yet proved.
Read more at University of Guelph
Image: Blackpoll warbler. (Credit: Christian Artuso)
