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Tracked L. s. namnetum Bluethroats Wintered in Western Iberia; One Reached 4,430 Metres Above Sea Level

White-spotted Bluethroat Luscinia svecica namnetum at L'Aiguillon-sur-Mer, Vendée, France
Research · Ecology

Tracking data published in 2026 provided the first full annual-cycle records for the range-restricted white-spotted bluethroat Luscinia svecica namnetum. Birds breeding in Charente-Maritime in western France migrated to the Iberian Peninsula, with four light-level geolocator birds broadly wintering in western Iberian coastal regions.

Light-level geolocators estimate broad position from sunrise and sunset timing and day length, while the newer multi-sensor loggers can add information such as activity and flight altitude.

Researchers fitted 31 males with light-level geolocators in 2016 and 2017 and another 20 males with multi-sensor loggers in 2024. Only five birds were recaptured in the following springs, but their tracks revealed migration timing, stopovers and wintering areas that had previously been poorly known for the subspecies.

The tracked bird crossed to western Iberia in seven flights

The bird carrying a multi-sensor logger left the breeding area in late August and reached southwestern Spain in seven flights. It spent about a month staging in central Spain at around 950 metres elevation before continuing to its wintering area in Andalucía. Its spring journey was faster and more direct, with three nocturnal flights in early March.

All ten recorded migratory flights of the bird carrying the multi-sensor logger occurred at night — seven in autumn and three in spring. The logger recorded flight altitudes reaching up to 4,430 metres above sea level while over land. The authors conclude that L. s. namnetum is a short-distance migrant that depends on a set of specific Iberian habitats, including southern and western wetlands and middle-elevation areas in central Spain, during different parts of its annual cycle.

Sources and image credit

  1. Doniol-Valcroze, P., de Grissac, S., Musseau, R., Rey, F., Bocher, P., Thorup, K., & Jiguet, F. (2026). Tracking the range restricted white-spotted Bluethroat Luscinia svecica namnetum using multi-sensor and light-level loggers. Journal of Ornithology. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-026-02383-8Primary research article, version of record published 13 March 2026. Thirty-one males were fitted with light-level loggers in 2016–2017 and 20 with multi-sensor loggers in 2024 in Charente-Maritime, France; five were recaptured. Four light-level tracks indicated wintering broadly in western Iberian coastal regions. One multi-sensor bird migrated to southwestern Spain in seven autumn flights, staged for about a month in central Spain and returned in three spring flights. All recorded flights were nocturnal and reached up to 4,430 m above terrestrial ground.

Image: Jean-Jacques Boujot — Luscinia svecica namnetum at L’Aiguillon-sur-Mer, Vendée, France, photographed 14 April 2009; Wikimedia Commons / Flickr; cropped to 16:9; representative image of the same subspecies from its French breeding range, not a tracked bird from the study · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Source

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