Light-level geolocation reveals unexpected migration route from Russia to the Philippines of a Blue-and-white-Flycatcher Cyanoptila cyanomelana

Abstract

East Asian songbirds are known to migrate along two major corridors: from mainland Eurasia via China to South-East Asia, and from Japan and easternmost Russia through chains of islands in the Pacific to Indonesia and the Philippines. We successfully tracked the hitherto unknown migration of a Blue-and-white Flycatcher Cyanoptila cyanomelana breeding in the Russian Far East. The bird spent five months on Mindoro Island in the Philippines during the non-breeding season and migrated through Taiwan, the Chinese east coast, and the Korean peninsula. Thus, we provide the first direct evidence for songbird migration from mainland Russia to the Philippines.