Differences in wing shape between sedentary and migratory Reed Buntings Emberiza schoeniclus

In several species wing shape varies with migratory habit, population, age and/or sex. Several wing-shape indices are used in the literature, but until now no studies have applied multivariate statistical techniques to avoid the problem of allometry at an intraspecific level between migratory and sedentary individuals. In this study we apply a new technique to determine wing-shape differences between two subspecies of Reed Bunting, one migratory and the other sedentary, inhabiting the same area in autumn. Our results showed that the migratory subspecies has larger, more convex wings than the sedentary one. Wing morphology was accurately correlated with migratory habit when corrected for size differences.