During migration, birds must locate stopover habitats that provide sufficient resources to rest and refuel while en route to the breeding or non‐breeding area. Long‐distance migrants invariably encounter inhospitable geographic features, the edges of which are often characterized by habitat limited in food and safety. In response, they often depart in directions inconsistent with reaching their destination, presumably searching for better habitat. We used automated radio telemetry to track 442 individuals of five species to investigate the behavior of migratory birds as they departed edge habitat along the northern Gulf of Mexico coast during autumn from 2008 to 2014. Most migrants (75%) retreated inland or detoured around rather than advanced across the Gulf, but this depended on bird species and fat‐based energy stores. Most individuals in lean condition or of smaller bodied species tended to retreat or detour, rather than advance, when departing from the coast. Twenty‐one percent of all birds that departed the coast in 2013–2014 were redetected over 45 km inland, providing a unique opportunity to compare stopover duration, departure times and travel speeds between migrants that retreat away from the coast and those that continue to advance toward their destination. Individuals that retreated the coast and were redetected inland spent ~1 day on the coast before retreating inland, where they spent 11 days before resuming migration. Further when those same individuals retreated from the coast, they departed around evening civil twilight, whereas those that advanced from inland habitats departed after evening civil twilight. Travel speeds were slower for individuals retreating inland compared to those advancing towards the coast from inland habitats. The differences between retreating and advancing individuals suggest how an individual's drive to feed or fly influences behavior. Our study illustrates how the sum of individual decisions can shape habitat use, landscape‐scale movements and migration strategies.

中文翻译：

---

是后退，弯路还是前进？了解面对墨西哥湾的鸟类的活动

在迁徙期间，鸟类必须找到中途停留的栖息地，以便在前往繁殖或非繁殖地区的途中提供充足的资源以供休息和加油。长途移民总是会遇到荒凉的地理特征，其边缘通常以食物和安全受到限制的栖息地为特征。作为回应，他们经常沿着与到达目的地不一致的方向出发，大概是在寻找更好的栖息地。我们使用自动无线电遥测技术追踪了五种物种的442个人，以研究候鸟在2008年至2014年秋季离开墨西哥湾北部海岸边缘栖息地时的行为。大多数移民（75％）迁入内陆或绕道而行比整个海湾地区都先进，但这取决于鸟类和脂肪基能量储存库。离开海岸时，大多数处于贫瘠状态或体型较小的人倾向于后退或绕道而不是前进。在2013-2014年从内陆超过45公里的内陆地区重新发现了所有鸟类中的21％，这提供了一个独特的机会来比较从海岸撤退的迁徙者和继续前进的迁徙者之间的停留时间，出发时间和行进速度前往目的地。撤退了海岸并被重新发现内陆的个人在撤退内陆之前在海岸上呆了约1天，在那里他们花费了11天才恢复移民。更进一步，当这些人从海岸撤退时，他们在傍晚的民间暮光中离去，而那些从内陆栖息地进来的人则在傍晚的民间暮光色中离去。与从内陆栖息地向海岸前进的人相比，向内陆撤退的人的旅行速度较慢。后退和前进个体之间的差异表明，个体进食或飞行的动力如何影响行为。我们的研究说明了各个决策的总和如何影响栖息地的使用，景观尺度的运动和迁移策略。