Species fact sheet by Global Register of Migratory Species - www.groms.de

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Migratory. Breeding range divisible into 5 populations: (1) birds of Axel Heiberg I; Elsmere I and Greenland move to W Europe, mainly from Irish and North Seas to Iberia, with vagrants S to Mauritania; direct trans- Atlantic crossing or stopover in Iceland or SW Norway; (2) Fenno-Skandian and W Russian birds move along coast lines of Baltic and W Europe (May and mid-Jul to mid-Sept) to Morocco and W Africa; (3) birds breeding from White Sea to C Siberia probably move through Kazakhstan lakes and Caspian and Black Seas to winter in E Mediterranean Red Sea, Persian Gulf, coasts of Indian Ocean and S Africa; on southward migration locally frequent inland in Africa; (4) birds from E Siberia and W Alaska, wintering in SE Asia, Australia, W Pacific and locally on W coast of Mexico and California; possibly two routes to Australia, first with movement to E Australia and New Zealand across Pacific, returning N via E coast of Asia, and second with movement to and from W Australia along E Asian coasts; arrives in Australia Aug-Nov and departs Mar-Jun; (5) race morinella moves to Pacific and Atlantic coasts of Central and South America, staging in large numbers in Delaware Bay, and with highest numbers wintering in N South America. Most immature birds spend summer S of breeding grounds. High fidelity to wintering sites. Juveniles migrate S c. 1 month later than adults. i.e. mid-Aug to early Sept. Migrates in flocks of ten’s of birds.   (del Hoyo J, Elliott A, Sargatal J (eds), 1996)

• digitised by GROMS, after del Hoyo J A Elliott; J Sargatal (eds) (1996) - www.hbw.com,
• Copyright: GROMS/BfN - www.groms.de
  
  (A digitised version of this map is published in GIS shape format on the GROMS CD).