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The Migration Ecology of Birds, second edition covers all aspects of this absorbing subject, including the migratory process, the problems of navigation and vagrancy, the timing and physiological control of migration, large scale movement patterns and their evolution, the effects of recent climate change, the particular problems that migrants face and the factors that limit their populations. It provides a thorough and in-depth review of the state of the science, with the text supplemented by abundant tables, maps, and diagrams. Written by a world-renowned avian ecology and migration researcher, this book reveals the extraordinary adaptability of birds to the variable and changing conditions across the globe, including current climate change. This adventurous book places emphasis on ecological aspects, which have received only scant attention in previous publications. Overall, the book provides the most comprehensive and in-depth appraisal of current information available and updated insights. The Migration Ecology of Birds is the most updated and detailed review of bird migration, its evolution, ecology, and bird physiology, following on the first edition's success as the fundamental resource for researchers worldwide. Written in a clear and readable style, this book appeals not only to migration researchers in the field and ornithologists, but to anyone with an interest in this fascinating subject.
1. Introduction
2. Methodology
Part 1. The Migratory Process
3. Migratory flight
4. Weather effects and other aspects
5. Fueling the flights
6. Incredible journeys
7. Raptors and other soaring birds
8. Migration speed, stopovers and duration of journeys
9. Finding the way
10. Vagrancy
Part 2. The timing and control of migration
11. Annual cycles
12. Control mechanisms
Part 3. Large scale movement patterns
13. Geographical patterns
14. Seasonal occupation of breeding areas
15. Sex and age differences in migration
16. Variations on a migratory theme
17. Site fidelity and dispersal
18. Irruptive migrations: boreal seed-eaters
19. Irruptive migrations: owls, raptors and waterfowl
Part 4. Evolution of movement patterns
20. Evolutionary aspects
21. Recent changes in bird migrations
22. Biogeographical legacies
23. Distribution patterns
Part 5. Migration systems and population limitation
24. The Palearctic-Afrotropical Migration system
25. The Nearctic-Neotropical migration system
26. Population limitation - breeding and wintering areas
27. Population limitation - conditions on stopover
28. Mass mortality of migrants
Dr Ian Newton is respected worldwide both as a biologist with a special interest and expertise in this subject and as a communicator. He is a seasoned and popular keynote speaker at National and International meetings, and his talks are often the high point of conferences. Ian Newton was born and raised in north Derbyshire. He attended Chesterfield Boys Grammar School, followed by the universities of Bristol and Oxford. He has been interested in birds since boyhood, and as a teenager developed a particular fascination with finches, which later led to doctoral and post-doctoral studies on these birds. Later in life, he became known for his penetrating field studies of bird populations, notably on raptors. He is now a senior ecologist with the Natural Environment Research Council and visiting professor of ornithology at the University of Oxford.
He has published more than 200 scientific papers on birds, and several books, including Finches (1972), Population Ecology of Raptors (1979), The Sparrowhawk (1986), and Lifetime Reproduction in Birds (edited, 1989). He has served as President of the British Ecological Society, Vice-president of the British Ornithologists' Union, and is an honorary member of the American Ornithologists' Union. He has received several prestigious awards for research and conservation and was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 1993. He is married and has two sons and a daughter.
"This is another magnum opus from a colossus of the ecological world [...] Ian is undoubtedly the most prolific and clearest of scientific communicators in the bird world, and this book is a testament to exceptional scholarship expressed in the most lucid way"
– Des Thompson, The Niche 55(3), autumn 2024
"The first edition of this book [...] was widely lauded, courtesy of a compelling ornithological subject and it being written by one of the world's leading authors in terms of the ability to communicate bird-related science and ecology. Many second editions of successful books involve little more than a reprint of the original with some cosmetic tweaking. That is not the case here. A substantial volume of new research on migration has been published since 2008 [...] As a consequence, every chapter in this new book has been altered in some way from the original and new material added. [...] Ian Newton has, however, clearly been hamstrung by the publisher's requirements. New material could be added to the second edition only by deleting a similar quantity from the original. Hence, much of the original text is condensed, and some of the earlier figures and tabled have been removed or reduced. [...] As a result, the page count is down from 976 to 707, while the price is up from £43 to £135. For such an eye-watering price tag, a better solution (although perhaps not for the publisher's shareholders) would have been a fully expanded second edition, perhaps in a larger format and with more effort at marketing a cheaper digital version. [...] Despite the quibbles above, this is (still) a wonderful book, genuinely one of the great bird books of our time."
– Roger Riddington, British Birds 117, September 2024
Reviews of the first edition:
"A remarkably detailed and highly readable account of this vast literature. The whole book is packed with clearly described examples, many of which are presented in fully referenced summary tables which will prove invaluable to researchers [...] This book describes many of these developments but sets them within a much broader historical context of published studies of bird migration. This context is both highly informative and provides a powerful basis for understanding current and future changes to migratory populations [...] Ian Newton has a deep and thorough knowledge of the science of ornithology, and it is to our great benefit that he has spent his recent years writing a series of books that summarize and structure this huge body of literature in such accessible and readable formats. At over 900 pages and including a detailed glossary and extensive reference list, this book will be of great value to researchers in this field, but it is also an excellent source of information for anyone interested inthemany fascinating aspects of bird migration."
– Jennifer A. Gill, in TRENDS In Ecology And Evolution
"The many charts, figures and graphic illustrations in the book give new views on the migratory phenomenon and on the incredible adaptive ability of birds to the variations and changing circumstances like the warming climate, to cite one example. The text is clear and is not solely interesting to researchers but also all those who are intrigued by the extraordinary migration of birds."
– Aluada, the journal of the Societet d'Etudes Ornithologiques de France
