Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Published January 9, 2019 17:01 ET (Brief from the Royal Society)
Tracking 133 migratory tree swallows from Alaska to North Carolina, researchers showed how the latitude at which each bird breeds has lasting, cumulative effects on timing of the bird’s migration and arrival and departure from stopover sites. However, the timing cascade stopped while the swallows resided at non-breeding sites, showing the importance of high-quality stopover and non-breeding sites for migratory birds.

Canadian co-authors: Elizabeth Gow, University of Guelph – egow@uoguelph.ca; Lauren Burke, Dalhousie University – lauren.burke@dal.ca; David Bradley, Bird Studies Canada, Delta, B.C. – dbradley@birdscanada.org; Marc Bélisle, Université de Sherbrooke – Marc.M.Belisle@USherbrooke.ca; Lisha Berzins, University of Northern British Columbia – lisha.berzins@usask.ca, and others