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News Release 15-139

Risk assessment, for the birds

Complex factors determine when migrating songbirds make their journeys

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Red-eyed vireo with transmitter

The red-eyed vireo, is one of the songbirds the team researched, shown here with a radio transmitter fitted to its back, using an adhesive. The transmitters recorded birds' locations as they migrated across the Gulf of Mexico.

Credit: Jaclyn Smolinksy


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Close-up of hands radiotagging a Swainson's thrush

A Swainson's thrush is fit with a radio transmitter. The birds travel some 600 miles across the Gulf of Mexico during migration. They use two main cues -- weather and fat -- to make their migration risk assessment.

Credit: Mauricio Andrada


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Man in radio tower

Installation of an automated radio telemetry tower on Alabama's Fort Morgan Peninsula. These towers, which lined part of the coast in Alabama and Mexico, picked up radio signals from transmitters attached to migrating birds.

Credit: Justine Madore


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