Vagrancy in Birds
An exploration of the causes and patterns of avian vagrancy

Avian vagrancy—the appearance of birds outside of their expected habitat—is a phenomenon that has fascinated natural historians for centuries, from Victorian collectors willing to spend fortunes on a rare specimen to today’s bird-chasing “twitchers.” Yet despite the obsessions of countless ornithologists, what do we actually know about the enigma of vagrancy? In Vagrancy in Birds, Alexander Lees and James Gilroy explore the causes, patterns, and processes behind the occurrences of these unique birds.

Lees and Gilroy draw on recent research to answer fundamental questions: What causes avian vagrancy? Why do some places attract so many vagrant birds? Why are some species more predisposed to long-range vagrancy than others? The authors present readers with everything known about the subject, and bring together different lines of evidence to make the case for vagrancy as a biological phenomenon with important implications for avian ecology and evolution.

Filled with a wealth of photographs, Vagrancy in Birds will fascinate avian enthusiasts everywhere.

1137898152
Vagrancy in Birds
An exploration of the causes and patterns of avian vagrancy

Avian vagrancy—the appearance of birds outside of their expected habitat—is a phenomenon that has fascinated natural historians for centuries, from Victorian collectors willing to spend fortunes on a rare specimen to today’s bird-chasing “twitchers.” Yet despite the obsessions of countless ornithologists, what do we actually know about the enigma of vagrancy? In Vagrancy in Birds, Alexander Lees and James Gilroy explore the causes, patterns, and processes behind the occurrences of these unique birds.

Lees and Gilroy draw on recent research to answer fundamental questions: What causes avian vagrancy? Why do some places attract so many vagrant birds? Why are some species more predisposed to long-range vagrancy than others? The authors present readers with everything known about the subject, and bring together different lines of evidence to make the case for vagrancy as a biological phenomenon with important implications for avian ecology and evolution.

Filled with a wealth of photographs, Vagrancy in Birds will fascinate avian enthusiasts everywhere.

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Vagrancy in Birds

Vagrancy in Birds

Vagrancy in Birds

Vagrancy in Birds

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Overview

An exploration of the causes and patterns of avian vagrancy

Avian vagrancy—the appearance of birds outside of their expected habitat—is a phenomenon that has fascinated natural historians for centuries, from Victorian collectors willing to spend fortunes on a rare specimen to today’s bird-chasing “twitchers.” Yet despite the obsessions of countless ornithologists, what do we actually know about the enigma of vagrancy? In Vagrancy in Birds, Alexander Lees and James Gilroy explore the causes, patterns, and processes behind the occurrences of these unique birds.

Lees and Gilroy draw on recent research to answer fundamental questions: What causes avian vagrancy? Why do some places attract so many vagrant birds? Why are some species more predisposed to long-range vagrancy than others? The authors present readers with everything known about the subject, and bring together different lines of evidence to make the case for vagrancy as a biological phenomenon with important implications for avian ecology and evolution.

Filled with a wealth of photographs, Vagrancy in Birds will fascinate avian enthusiasts everywhere.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780691224886
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Publication date: 02/15/2022
Pages: 400
Sales rank: 1,035,163
Product dimensions: 6.60(w) x 9.60(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Alexander Lees is senior lecturer in biodiversity at Manchester Metropolitan University and lab associate of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Twitter @Alexander_Lees James Gilroy is lecturer in ecology at the University of East Anglia. Twitter @j_gilroy1 Both Lees and Gilroy serve on the British Ornithologists' Union Records Committee (BOURC).

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements 6

Scope of the Book 7

How Birds Navigate 9

The four avian compasses 10

The avian clock - deciding when to stop migrating 16

The avian map sense and 'true' navigation 17

Vagrancy Through Compass Errors 21

Reverse migration as a cause of vagrancy 21

Reverse migration in spring 24

Mirror-image misorientation 26

Compass errors and the axis of migration 28

Magnetic anomalies 28

Limitations to the reverse migration and mirror-image hypotheses 30

Vagrancy in social migrants 33

Wind Drift and Vagrancy 36

The sky as a complex habitat 37

How do birds respond to wind drift? 40

Wind drift over water 41

Global transoceanic vagrancy patterns 42

Jet streams and vagrancy 45

Overshooting 46

Overshooting in spring and autumn 46

How overshooting works 47

Extreme Weather and Irruptions 49

Storms and seabirds 49

Irruptions and nomadism as a cause of vagrancy 51

Vagrancy and Natural Dispersal 53

Exploratory vagrancy in resident species 54

Exploratory vagrancy in migratory species 55

Human-Driven Vagrancy 57

Indirect human impacts affecting vagrancy 61

Consequences of Vagrancy for Species and Ecosystems 63

Establishing new breeding locations 63

Colonisation of new winter sites and migratory routes 66

Impacts on other species and ecosystems 68

Family Accounts 71

Avian Vagrancy in an Era of Global Change 330

The future of rare bird discovery and 'twitching' 331

Advances in the scientific understanding of vagrancy and future research directions 333

References 335

General Index 374

Species Index 375

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