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Magnetic compass of migratory Savannah sparrows is calibrated by skylight polarization at sunrise and sunset

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Abstract

Migratory birds use compass systems derived from the geomagnetic field, the stars, the sun and polarized light patterns. We tested whether birds use a single underlying reference system for calibration of these compasses and, specifically, whether sunset and sunrise polarized light cues from the region of the sky near the horizon are used to calibrate the magnetic compass. We carried out orientation experiments with Savannah sparrows, Passerculus sandwichensis, in Alaska during autumn migration 2005, and compared the magnetic orientations of individual birds before and after exposure to conflicting information between magnetic and celestial cues. Birds exposed to an artificially shifted polarization pattern (±90° shift relative to the natural condition) for 1 h at local sunrise or sunset recalibrated their magnetic compass, but only when given access to the artificial polarization pattern near the horizon. Birds exposed to a 90° clockwise-shifted magnetic field for 1 h at solar noon did not recalibrate their magnetic compass. These results indicate that migratory birds calibrate their magnetic compass using the skylight polarization pattern vertically intersecting the horizon at sunrise and sunset. In conjunction with earlier work showing that sun and star compass calibrations are secondarily derived from magnetic and polarized light cues, our findings suggest that polarized light cues near the horizon at sunrise and sunset provide the primary calibration reference for the compass systems of migratory songbirds.

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Fig. 1a–d
Fig. 2a–c
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Notes

  1. Under overcast skies the pattern of skylight polarization may be visible near the horizon, providing a calibration cue to animals sensitive to low degrees of polarization (Hegedüs et al. 2007b, 2007a).

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Acknowledgments

We thank the Swedish Polar Research Secretariat, Brian J. McCaffery, Mike Rearden and the staff at the US Fish and Wildlife Service, Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge, for financial and logistic support. We are grateful to Thomas Alerstam for valuable comments on the manuscript. This work was financed by the Swedish Science Research Council and the Swedish Polar Research Secretariat (to SÅ). RM was funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (postdoctoral fellowship) and JBP by the US National Science Foundation (IBN04–25712 and IBN02–16957). All experiments were approved by the US Fish and Wildlife Service (permit #05-YDNWR-02).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Derring Hall, Blacksburg, VA, 24061, USA

    Rachel Muheim & John B. Phillips

  2. Department of Animal Ecology, Lund University, Ecology Building, 223 62, Lund, Sweden

    Rachel Muheim & Susanne Åkesson

Authors
  1. Rachel Muheim
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  2. Susanne Åkesson
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  3. John B. Phillips
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Correspondence to Rachel Muheim.

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Communicated by H. Mouritsen.

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Muheim, R., Åkesson, S. & Phillips, J.B. Magnetic compass of migratory Savannah sparrows is calibrated by skylight polarization at sunrise and sunset. J Ornithol 148 (Suppl 2), 485–494 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-007-0187-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-007-0187-4

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