Migration of the Common Redstart (Phoenicurus phoenicurus): A Eurasian Songbird Wintering in Highly Seasonal Conditions in the West African Sahel

ABSTRACT. Some species of long-distance migrant birds are thought to follow spatiotemporal patterns of high food availability during the non-breeding season, a strategy termed “itinerancy,” instead of being sedentary in one specific site. We tracked the migration of a small Eurasian songbird, the Common Redstart (Phoenicurus phoenicurus), using archival light-level geolocators. The birds showed a distinct counterclockwise loop migration from northern Europe. Fall migration passed west of the Mediterranean Sea and along the northwest African coast before the birds made an abrupt change of direction at the southern edge of the Sahara toward the winter area farther inland in the West African Sahel. Spring migration was more direct: north to the Iberian Peninsula and back to northern Europe. The birds spent more time in only one winter site than they do during the breeding season in northern Europe, and they generally showed no signs of itinerancy—except for one bird that probably avoided an exceptional droug...