caa a22 4500 445367350 CHVBK 20180317142934.0 cr unu---uuuuu 170323e20110701xx s 000 0 eng 10.1007/s00484-010-0368-3 doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1007/s00484-010-0368-3 Weather conditions promote route flexibility during open ocean crossing in a long-distance migratory raptor [Elektronische Daten] [Ugo Mellone, Pascual López-López, Rubén Limiñana, Vicente Urios] Weather conditions are paramount in shaping birds' migratory routes, promoting the evolution of behavioural plasticity and allowing for adaptive decisions on when to depart or stop during migration. Here, we describe and analyze the influence of weather conditions in shaping the sea-crossing stage of the pre-breeding journey made by a long-distance migratory bird, the Eleonora's falcon (Falco eleonorae), tracked by satellite telemetry from the wintering grounds in the Southern Hemisphere to the breeding sites in the Northern Hemisphere. As far as we know, the data presented here are the first report of repeated oceanic journeys of the same individuals in consecutive years. Our results show inter-annual variability in the routes followed by Eleonora's falcons when crossing the Strait of Mozambique, between Madagascar and eastern continental Africa. Interestingly, our observations illustrate that individuals show high behavioural plasticity and are able to change their migration route from one year to another in response to weather conditions, thus minimising the risk of long ocean crossing by selecting winds blowing towards Africa for departure and changing the routes to avoid low pressure areas en route. Our results suggest that weather conditions can really act as obstacles during migration, and thus, besides ecological barriers, the migratory behaviour of birds could also be shaped by "meteorological barriers”. We briefly discuss orientation mechanisms used for navigation. Since environmental conditions during migration could cause carry-over effects, we consider that forecasting how global changes of weather patterns will shape the behaviour of migratory birds is of the utmost importance. ISB, 2010 Argos nationallicence Eleonora's falcon nationallicence Migration nationallicence Satellite tracking nationallicence Wind nationallicence Vorticity nationallicence Mellone Ugo Grupo de Investigación Zoología de Vertebrados, University of Alicante, Apdo. 99, 03080, Alicante, Spain aut López-López Pascual Cavanilles Institute of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology, Terrestrial Vertebrates Group, University of Valencia, C/ Catedrático José Beltrán 2, 46980, Valencia, Paterna, Spain aut Limiñana Rubén Grupo de Investigación Zoología de Vertebrados, University of Alicante, Apdo. 99, 03080, Alicante, Spain aut Urios Vicente Grupo de Investigación Zoología de Vertebrados, University of Alicante, Apdo. 99, 03080, Alicante, Spain aut International Journal of Biometeorology Springer-Verlag 55/4(2011-07-01), 463-468 0020-7128 55:4<463 2011 55 484 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-010-0368-3 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-010-0368-3 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Mellone Ugo Grupo de Investigación Zoología de Vertebrados, University of Alicante, Apdo. 99, 03080, Alicante, Spain aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- López-López Pascual Cavanilles Institute of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology, Terrestrial Vertebrates Group, University of Valencia, C/ Catedrático José Beltrán 2, 46980, Valencia, Paterna, Spain aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Limiñana Rubén Grupo de Investigación Zoología de Vertebrados, University of Alicante, Apdo. 99, 03080, Alicante, Spain aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Urios Vicente Grupo de Investigación Zoología de Vertebrados, University of Alicante, Apdo. 99, 03080, Alicante, Spain aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- International Journal of Biometeorology Springer-Verlag 55/4(2011-07-01), 463-468 0020-7128 55:4<463 2011 55 484 Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer