Bird migration: When birds take a different route: what abnormal orientation can reveal about migration
Outline
Each year, young birds undertake their first migration to their wintering grounds and manage to complete it without any assistance from parents or siblings. Their innate ability to accomplish such a long journey across vast and unfamiliar landscapes with remarkable precision has fascinated humans for decades. While it is now well established that birds use a variety of cues, including the Earth’s magnetic field, celestial cues, and visual landmarks, to reach their wintering grounds, the underlying orientation mechanisms remain poorly understood.
Aim
This project aims to investigate variations in orientation at the start of migration. Using a dataset of EURING records, which includes ringing recovery data collected across Europe over the past decades, the research seeks to identify abnormal migratory orientations and explore their underlying causes. The aim is to estimate the common departure orientation of different populations/species from their breeding sites, and to detect deviations from these expected routes. We will look for similar patterns among these deviations (such as mirror-image or reverse migration) and examine whether such deviations are more frequent in specific geographic areas or specific parts of a species’ range. By studying the causes of these abnormal orientations, the project aims to shed light on the orientation mechanisms used by birds at the start of their migrations.
Project details
This Master’s project is a desk-based data analysis project with no fieldwork involved. The student will have important freedom in how to test the hypotheses and will be encouraged to think critically about how to account for geographic biases in ringing effort. There will also be opportunities to explore additional datasets, including ringing data from North America. The project is expected to lead to the writing of a scientific publication.
Requirements
We are looking for a student with an interest in bird migration. The start date will be January 2026 or later (open to discussion). Previous experience with R is required, experience with statistical modelling and large database handling is desirable.
Supervisors
The student will be part of the Migration Research Unit at the Swiss Ornithological Institute and will be supervised by Paul Dufour. The student will also be closely supervised by Joe Wynn (University of Liverpool), James McLaren and Heiko Schmaljohann (University of Oldenburg).
For details please contact Paul Dufour paul.dufour80@gmail.com
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