Highlight Activities 2022: Among-Species Differences in Seasonal Timing and Weather Correlates of Autumn Raptor Migration at Khao Dinsor, Thailand, 2015-2016.

Abstract: With growing concern about the impacts of global environmental change on biodiversity, identifying the drivers of shifts in the abundance of wildlife species has become a central focus of conservation ecology. Using raptor count data collected following standardized protocols at Khao Dinsor, southern Thailand, in 2015 and 2016, we characterized the seasonal timing and

identified weather associations of the visible migration of representative species. In general, daily counts of all three species were positively associated with predominant wind patterns. Air temperature was positively associated with the daily counts of species that migrated early in the season (Chinese Sparrowhawk (Accipiter soloensis) and Oriental Honey-Buzzard (Pernis ptilorhynchus). Barometric pressure was negatively associated with the daily counts of Black Baza (Aviceda leuphotes) the  migration window of which coincides with the shift from the SW to the NE monsoon.  These results provide us with a better understanding of the drivers of migration patterns at a representative monitoring site on a globally important flyway, aiding assessment of population trajectories through time.

Dumandan, P.K. T., Prado, T. M. B., Limparungpattanakij, W., Hanasuta, C., Concepcion, C. B. & Round, P. D. 2022. Among-Species Differences in Seasonal Timing and Weather Correlates of Autumn Raptor Migration at Khao Dinsor, Thailand, 2015-2016. Journal of Raptor Research 56 (3): 323–332