Akesson S. (1999) Do passerine migrants captured at an inland site perform temporary reverse migration in autumn? ARDEA 87 (1): 129-137

Ringing recoveries from 18 different passerine species captured at an inland ringing site in south Sweden (Kvismare Bird Observatory) were analysed with respect to direction and distance of migration in order to investigate the occurrence of temporary reverse movements opposite to the expected forward migratory direction towards south and south-west in autumn. The data demonstrate that movements in reverse or other directions were rare compared to forward movements among the different species and categories of migrants (short-distance or irruptive migrants, temperate and tropical migrants). Compared to birds captured on migration at a coastal ringing site in south-west Sweden (Falsterbo Bird Observatory), the proportion of birds performing reverse movements were significantly lower at the inland ringing site. The results from the inland site and previous results from the coastal site in south-west Sweden suggest that autumn reverse movements mainly occur in migrating passerines confron ted with an ecological barrier, such as a sea. Presumably temporary reverse movements in coastal areas is an adaptive behaviour performed by migrants in order to locate suitable feeding grounds for refuelling before they are prepared to resume migration and cross the barrier