Office National de la Chasse et de la Faune Sauvage, Villiers en Bois, France.
PLoS One. 2013;8(3):e59396. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0059396. Epub 2013 Mar 27.
The identification of migration routes, wintering grounds and stopover sites are crucial issues for the understanding of the Palearctic-African bird migration system as well as for the development of relevant conservation strategies for trans-Saharan migrants. Using miniaturized light-level geolocators we report a comprehensive and detailed year round track of a granivorous trans-Saharan migrant, the European Turtle Dove (Streptopelia turtur). From five recovered loggers, our data provide new insights on migratory journeys and winter destinations of Turtle Doves originating from a breeding population in Western France. Data confirm that Turtle Doves wintered in West Africa. The main wintering area encompassed Western Mali, the Inner Delta Niger and the Malian/Mauritanian border. Some individuals also extended their wintering ranges over North Guinea, North-West of Burkina Faso and the Ivory-Coast. Our results reveal that all individuals did not spend the winter period at a single location; some of them experienced a clear eastward shift of several hundred kilometres. We also found evidence for a loop migration pattern, with a post-breeding migration flyway lying west of the spring route. Finally, we found that on their way back to breeding grounds Turtle Doves needed to refuel after crossing the Sahara desert. Contrary to previous suggestions, our data reveal that birds used stopover sites for several weeks, presumably in Morocco and North Algeria. This later finding is a crucial issue for future conservation strategies because environmental conditions on these staging areas might play a pivotal role in population dynamics of this declining species.
确定迁徙路线、越冬地和中途停留地是了解古北界-非洲候鸟迁徙系统以及制定相关撒哈拉迁徙候鸟保护策略的关键问题。利用微型光强地理定位器，我们报告了一种食谷型撒哈拉迁徙候鸟——欧斑鸠（Streptopelia turtur）全年的综合详细轨迹。从五个回收的记录器中，我们的数据为来自法国西部繁殖种群的斑鸠的迁徙旅程和冬季目的地提供了新的见解。数据证实斑鸠在西非越冬。主要的越冬区包括马里西部、尼日尔内陆三角洲和马里/毛里塔尼亚边境。一些个体的越冬范围还延伸到几内亚北部、布基纳法索西北部和象牙海岸。我们的结果表明，并非所有个体都在一个地点度过冬季；其中一些个体的迁徙范围向东移动了数百公里。我们还发现了存在循环迁徙模式的证据，繁殖后迁徙的路线位于春季迁徙路线的西侧。最后，我们发现斑鸠在返回繁殖地的途中需要在穿越撒哈拉沙漠后补充能量。与之前的建议相反，我们的数据显示，鸟类在中途停留地停留了数周，大概是在摩洛哥和阿尔及利亚北部。这一发现对于未来的保护策略至关重要，因为这些停留区的环境条件可能在这个数量不断减少的物种的种群动态中发挥关键作用。
