Summary: A fine-scale displacement of Manx shearwaters, a wide-ranging pelagic seabird, reveals that they preferentially adopt shorter homing routes following release at proximal sites, demonstrating ...
Following this finding, we discuss the learning mechanisms that may underpin this navigational efficiency - including how birds might distinguish between routes where the absolute difference in payoff is minimal, but the relative payoff is large.
Give it a read! doi.org/10.1242/jeb....
In this study, we displaced Manx shearwaters, a wide-ranging seabird, to proximal sites around their home colony.
We found that, despite very slight differences in route payoffs in comparison to their free-ranging movements, shearwaters adopt the most efficient routes when returning home.
