Cues, corticosterone and departure decisions in a partial migrant

Most migrating birds make multiple stopovers to fuel and/or rest. The decision to resume migration from stopover is based on various cues, such as time within the season and wind conditions. There are hints that the strength of these departure cues shapes corticosterone level, which in its turn appears to regulate the timing of departure. We here provide results that very strongly indicate that indeed departure cues jointly shape corticosterone level of migrants at stopover. We compared corticosterone level between migrating and sedentary common blackbirds (Turdus merula) sampled simultaneously at the same location during autumn migration. As expected, in migrating individuals corticosterone level was positively associated with time within the season and with current wind conditions. The latter was only apparent in adult birds and not in 1st year migrants, thus matching the observation that 1st year autumnal migrants are less wind selective than adults. In contrast to the migrants, in sedentary blackbirds these “cues” did not explain variation in corticosterone level. Furthermore, stopover departure seemed more likely and to occur earlier in the night in migrants with high corticosterone level. Our unique comparative study thus supports the newly developed concept that corticosterone mediates between departure cues and stopover departure timing in avian migrants.