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equivalent latitudes in Australia.• On the non-breeding grounds in central and SouthAmerica, migrants use different habitats in proportion totheir availability, and many are nectarivorous. In Africa andAsia, however, migrants strongly avoid forested habitats,and most are insectivorous. Patterns of habitat usage inAfrica and Asia are much more similar to one another thaneither is to the New World, despite that fact that Asia (likethe Neptropics) has extensive forests. Indeed, there issome suggestion that the forests of Asia may act asmigration barriers in the same way that ocean crossingsdo. Predictions about migration behaviour based solely onthe relative abundance of different habitat types wouldthus be doomed to failure.• There is evidence on at least two flyways that habitatoccupancy during the non-breeding season influencesbreeding habitat occupancy, rather than vice versa. Thisprovides some support for migration having a tropicalorigin and a demographic basis (as proposed for theNeotropics).• Overall, migratory behaviour on the two Old World flywaysis remarkably similar, despite differences in geography andhabitat; it is the New World flyway that is the “odd manout”. This strongly suggests that whatever ecologicalfactors might be maintaining migratory behaviour, theseare overlain with a strong evolutionary signal. By tackling amore detailed analysis of African migration patterns (ca1800 species), and controlling these analyses forphylogeny, we now hope to be able to assess the strengthof this “signal from history”.Highlights: African Black Oystercatcher Movements• Juvenile oystercatchers from the western part of thebreeding range either remain within 150 km of their natalsite or migrate 1500-2000 km north, to one of five discrete“nursery” areas on the Namib Desert coast of central andnorthern Namibia and southern Angola. All nurseries lieoutside the adults’ breeding range. An estimated 36-46%of juveniles are migrants.• Western birds return from nurseries to their natal siteswhen they are 2-3 years old, and never migrate again. Thisstrongly suggests the existence of a “migratory gene”which, if expressed, is turned off after 2-3 years and neverreactivated. If an analogy to this exists in any other birdanywhere in the world, we have been unable to find it(although, without doubt, it exists).• By contrast, eastern juveniles undertake “diffusiondispersal” in both westerly and easterly directions,regularly up to 1000 km. These journeys mostly end withinthe species’ breeding range; very few reach nurseries.• A genetic basis to these movement patterns could explainnot only the migratory behaviour of western birds, but alsothe intermediate behaviour of eastern birds. Western birdsaccount for ca 75% of the total population, and eastwardgenetic diffusion is thus more likely than western diffusion.• There is no evidence that movement patterns of westernbirds are linked to hatching date (we predicted that laterfledgingbirds might be “forced” to migrate by virtue of localspace being preoccupied). However, migrants aresignificantly heavier than short-distance dispersers, andwe suspect that body condition may be the trigger forexpression of a migratory gene. Interestingly, in allinstances where we have been able to follow themovement patterns of siblings, they have always behavedin the same way – either migrating or dispersing.Ringing juvenile oystercatchers. Photo: Doug Loewenthal’s collectionStudentsJane Hamblin (MSc); Dispersion patterns of Holarctic-breedingmigrant landbirds: global paradigms or regional patterns?(Degree to be awarded with distinction, Dec 2003)Kirsten Louw (PhD); Patterns and ecological correlates ofmigratory behaviour in African birdsDouglas Loewenthal (PhD); Population dynamics andconservation of the African Black Oystercatcher HaematopusmoquiniAcknowledgementsInternational migration studies are funded through a grantto Phil Hockey from the National Research Foundation.Oystercatcher migration research is funded by the NationalResearch Foundation, Conservation International andNamakwa Sands (through WWF).12 Percy FitzPatrick Institute Annual Report: July 2002 - June 2003