Swiss Ornithological Institute

Airflows redefine the cost of aerial transport in the wild

Fuel economy matters to both animals and machines, as the cost of transport can determine where, when, and how far locomotion is possible. However, established estimates of these values for animal flight come from laboratories and treat the atmosphere as constant, even though fre...

Wind conditions shape co-migration fidelity in trans-Saharan birds at a Mediterranean stopover site

Abstract Weather is a key driver of bird migration, particularly near ecological barriers, where migratory species often converge before crossing. While its effects on individual timing are well documented, how weather reshapes the temporal assemblage of migratory bird communitie...

Decoupling of emigration timing and skill acquisition in a saturated population of golden eagles

Abstract Many animals must gain independence from parental care by acquiring skills necessary for survival. Thus, the rate of skill acquisition can predict when parental care ends and animals emigrate. However, young animals sometimes acquire adult-like skills long before they em...

Solving problems increases provisioning efficiency, enhancing reproductive success in male great tits

Abstract The ecological and selective processes acting on cognitive traits have received recent attention because of the potentially key role of cognition in rapid behavioural adjustments in response to environmental variation. Innovation, a cognitive process involved in the deve...