Researchers assess the balance between instinct and adaptability that makes long-distance migrations doable. It may be just a small songbird with gray feathers and an eye-catching white rump, but the northern wheatear (or less politely, northern white-arse) is the consummate transoceanic migrant. And thanks largely to the efforts of Franz Bairlein of the Institute of Avian Research in Wilhelmshaven, Germany, it's an up-and-coming star in migratory biology. Northern wheatears (Oenanthe oenanthe) boastthe largest breeding range—covering nearly half the planet—of any migrating songbird. In the spring, some subspecies nest in northern Africa. Others reproduce in the northern polar regions from Alaska to Siberia. Some populations head to Scandinavia,Greenland, Iceland, and northeastern Canada.
展开▼
