Ardea
Official journal of the Netherlands Ornithologists' Union

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Vleugel D.A. (1956) Waarnemingen aan verkeerde trek in het voorjaar. ARDEA 44 (1-3): 206-213
There seem to be two kinds of migration in a more or less reverse direction: a. In spring under the influence of frost. This type is mostly called reverse migration (e.g. Thomson 1936, Williams 1950). b. Along coasts under the influence of tail winds. This movement occurs in spring and in autumn. The migrants head into the wind although they deviate temporarily, to a greater or lesser extent, from the standard direction. This type is also called reverse migration (e.g. Lewis 1939). As there exists another name, viz. retro migration, it seems advisable to use this latter term, so as to avoid any misunderstanding. Besides, this name is nearest to the term cursus retroversus given to this type of movement by Koch (1933). Lewis (1939) described a very interesting case of reverse migration. Night migrants were migrating south by day in great numbers under the influence of cold weather farther north, as Williams (1950) pointed out and not under the influence of wind direction as Lewis (l.c.) stated. The first observations on retro migration in spring were published by Bergman (1949). In Germany (Holstein) Von Westernhagen (1953) found that retro migration in spring occurs as far as twenty kilometres from the coast of the Baltic. This movement so far inland occurs especially later in the day. In the western part of the Netherlands spring migration takes place almost entirely on a broad front and is therefore on a small scale. However, in March 1951, after a period of bad weather, it was stronger than usual. The present writer then observed some retro migration in a west-north-western direction, with a south-western wind. This movement was along the coast of the Eastern Scheldt. The species involved were Pipits, Linnets, Crows, Yellow Hammers, Chaffinches, Bramblings, Wagtails, Sparrows and Starlings. Although the writer observed some retro migration of Chaffinches in a westerly direction along a range of hills near Nijmegen in March 1934 and 1935, it seems to be a rare phenomenon along leading lines in the interior.


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