When and where to fuel before crossing the Sahara desert – extended stopover and migratory fuelling in first‐year garden warblers Sylvia borin

Large numbers of passerine migrants cross the Sahara desert every year on their way to‐and‐from wintering areas in tropical Africa. In the desert, hardly any fuelling opportunities exist and most migrants have to prepare in advance. A central question is how inexperienced birds know where to fuel. Inexperienced garden warblers Sylvia borin were studied in Greece just before the desert crossing in autumn. Body mass data collected at two sites indicate that most birds do not fuel for the desert crossing further north. For the first time, detailed information about stopover duration close to the Sahara desert was studied by using light weight radio‐transmitters. Results from Crete show that most first‐year garden warblers arrive with relatively small fuel loads in relation to lean body mass (<30%), stay for 13–20 d and depart with an average fuel load of about 100%. Radio‐tagged birds performed small scale movements initially and took advantage of fig fruits. Birds trapped at fig trees were heavier than birds trapped with tape lures, showing that tape lures can bias the sample of migrants trapped. The precise fuelling pattern found indicates that first‐year migrants must also include external spatial cues to make the preparation for crossing the desert in the right area.