DOI: 10.5061/dryad.gqnk98szz
title: Data from: The structure of the annual migratory flight activity in a songbird

description: Migratory songbirds have an internal circannual genetic program that
 controls the timing and extent of migratory flight activity, as
 demonstrated by experiments with birds held in cages. We used multisensor
 loggers to record the timing and duration of all migratory flights during
 the annual cycle of 15 free-living individuals of red-backed shrikes
 Lanius collurio. Annual actograms unexpectedly revealed that the nocturnal
 migratory flights of the shrikes were organized in a highly structured way
 with flights aggregated into segments that could be readily identified for
 all individuals, showing low variability and thus high consistency between
 individuals. These results suggest that the execution of migratory flights
 is under a high degree of control according to a rather detailed internal
 travelling plan for the annual migration cycle. Potentially, the control
 of migratory flight under natural conditions depends on at complex
 feed-back process where external cues associated with the geographic,
 temporal, and nutritional situation of the bird are required for the
 internal program to properly regulate the successive segmental flight
 steps of the migratory journey. This would mean that the internal/genetic
 program for control of bird migration is much more dynamic and complex
 than hereto assumed. The data published here is the raw data from the
 multisensor data loggers that are the basis of this study (Proceedings of
 the Royal Society B, doi:10.1098/rspb.2025.0958).
description: # Data from: The structure of the annual migratory flight activity in a
 songbird Dataset DOI: [10.5061/dryad.gqnk98szz](10.5061/dryad.gqnk98szz)
 ## Description of the data and file structure **Data from:** **The
 structure of the annual migratory flight activity in a songbird** Contains
 annual multi sensor datalogger data from 15 individual red-backed shrikes
 and all code that was used for the publication
 (doi:10.1098/rspb.2025.0958). ### Files and variables #### File:
 Redbacked_shrikes_activity_and_pressure.txt **Description:**  Data file in
 plain text containing detailed accelerometer and pressure data (when
 available) for the different red-backed shrikes. The data included in this
 file is the raw data that all other files, analyses and figures are based
 on. Empty cells represent missing data.  ##### Variables * ind: indicates
 individual Logger ID * Activity date & time: timestamp *
 acc[0]: number of sequences that scored 0 during the preceding hour (12
 measurement sequences) * acc[1]: number of sequences that scored 1 during
 the preceding hour (12 measurement sequences) * acc[2]: number of
 sequences that scored 2 during the preceding hour (12 measurement
 sequences) * acc[3]: number of sequences that scored 3 during the
 preceding hour (12 measurement sequences) * acc[4]: number of sequences
 that scored 4 during the preceding hour (12 measurement sequences) *
 acc[5]: number of sequences that scored 5 during the preceding hour (12
 measurement sequences) * check: the sum of all activity counts and should
 be 12 if sampling worked as intended * P [mBar]: barometric pressure in
 mbar #### File: Main_dataset.txt **Description:**  The dataset that is
 used for all analyses and Fig 3. Flights and segments have been identified
 from Activity_and_barometric_data.txt according to methods given in the
 main text (doi:10.1098/rspb.2025.0958). Dataset used for analyses and Fig
 3. Empty cells represent missing data.  ##### Variables * row: individual
 row number * year: year * individual: individual Logger ID *
 segment: segment number * start: start date of the segment in days from
 July 15 * stop: stop date of the segment in days from July 15 *
 flight_dur: flight duration of the segment in hours * flight_no: numbers
 of flights in segment * segment_dur: number of days per segment *
 So_days_Europe: number of stopover days in Europe * SO_days_Sahel: number
 of stopover days in Sahel * Winter_days: number of days in winter area *
 SO_days_HoA: number of stopover days at the Horn of Africa *
 SO_days_WS: number of stopover days when the birds shift to a westerly
 orientation during spring migration * summer_movement: number of summer
 movements * flights_SO_europe: number of movements during stopover in
 Europe * flights_sahel: number of movements during stopover in Sahel *
 winter_movement: number of movements during the wintering period ####
 File: Cumulative_flight_hours_no_odd.txt **Description:** Data files in
 plain text containing cumulative flight duration during spring and autumn
 migration. Flights and segments have been identified from
 Activity_and_barometric_data.txt according to methods given in the main
 text (doi:10.1098/rspb.2025.0958). Dataset for Fig 2 a & b. Empty
 cells represent missing data.  ##### Variables * row: individual row
 number * Season: migratory season * Jul_day: Julian date after Jul 15 *
 date: Date * ind: individual Logger ID * Cum_flight_org: cumulative flight
 duration in hours per migratory season until the indicated date with a
 comma as separator * Cum_flight_no_odd: cumulative flight duration in
 hours per migratory season until the indicated date with a point as
 separator * segment: flight segment * Cum_flight: cumulative flight
 duration in hours per migratory season until the indicated date with a
 point as separator * included_in_analyses: if the individual is included
 in the analyses #### File: Phenology_barchart.txt **Description:**  Data
 files in plain text containing the number of days each bird spend at the
 different flight segments and stationary periods. Dataset for Fig 2d
 (doi:10.1098/rspb.2025.0958). Empty cells represent missing data.  #####
 Variables * individ: individual Logger ID * segment: flight segment *
 days: number of days in segment * segment_order: manually derived variable
 used to order the different individuals and segments in a desired way in
 Fig 3 * segment_reorder: manually derived variable used to order the
 different individuals and segments in a desired way in Fig 3 *
 individ_reorder_start: manually derived variable used to order the
 different individuals and segments in a desired way in Fig 3 #### File:
 146_2014.txt, 148_2014.txt, 679_2016.txt, 993_2017_2.txt, 998_2017.txt,
 F24_2018.txt, A23_2017.txt, F17_2018.txt, X0AD_2018.txt, XB04_2018.txt,
 XB07_2018.txt, F11_2018.txt, X0AA_2018.txt, A16_2017.txt, F28_2018.txt
 Description: Data files in plain text containing detailed accelerometer
 for the different red-backed shrikes, file name indicate logger ID and the
 year of attachment. Datasets used for Fig 1
 (doi:10.1098/rspb.2025.0958). Empty cells represent missing data.  #####
 Variables * Date: Timestamp * acc.0.: number of sequences that scored 0
 during the preceding hour (12 measurement sequences) * acc.1.: number of
 sequences that scored 1 during the preceding hour (12 measurement
 sequences) * acc.2.: number of sequences that scored 2 during the
 preceding hour (12 measurement sequences) * acc.3.: number of sequences
 that scored 3 during the preceding hour (12 measurement sequences) *
 acc.4.: number of sequences that scored 4 during the preceding hour (12
 measurement sequences) * acc.5.: number of sequences that scored 5 during
 the preceding hour (12 measurement sequences) * Seq: the sum of all
 activity counts and should be 12 if sampling worked as intended *
 info: gives info if relevant #### File: All_used_code_for_publication.R
 **Description:**  All code used for analyses and figures in the main text
 (doi:10.1098/rspb.2025.0958) ## Code/software All statistics were
 performed with R 4.2.2. All code used for analyses and figures in the main
 text (doi:10.1098/rspb.2025.0958) is given in
 All_code_used_for_publication.R except the code used for analyses of the
 barometric pressure for positioning (including Fig 2c) that are given
 in [https://github.com/pamat0/Lanius_collurio_positioning_GeoPressureR.git](https://github.com/pamat0/Lanius_collurio_positioning_GeoPressureR.git) . This GitHub repository also includes he data for these analyses. Loaded packages:  * Rmisc built under R version 4.2.3 - Hmisc built under R version 4.2.3 * ggplot2 - dplyr built under R version 4.2.3 * car - cowplot built under R version 4.2.3 * psych - lubridate built under R version 4.2.3 All R packages used for the analyses of the barometric pressure for positioning (including Fig 2c) are given at Zenodo: [https://zenodo.org/records/16875775](https://zenodo.org/records/16875775 "https://zenodo.org/records/16875775") . ## Access information Other publicly accessible locations of the data: * [https://zenodo.org/records/16875775](https://zenodo.org/records/16875775 "https://zenodo.org/records/16875775") Data was derived from the following sources: * n/a