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Summary: ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Volker Salewski Æ Res Altwegg Æ Birgit Erni
Karl H. Falk Æ Franz Bairlein Æ Bernd Leisler
Moult of three Palaearctic migrants in their
West African winter quarters
Received: 23 July 2003 / Revised: 26 December 2003 / Accepted: 6 January 2004 / Published online: 10 February 2004
Ó Dt. Ornithologen-Gesellschaft e.V. 2004
Abstract Some theories about moult strategies of Pal-
aearctic passerine migrants assume that birds adapt
timing of moult to environmental conditions such as
rainfall on their African wintering grounds. Species
wintering in the northern tropics should limit moult to
the period shortly after their arrival at the end of the
rainy season. Passerine migrants wintering in West
Africa should also moult more rapidly compared to re-
lated species or conspecific populations that moult
elsewhere. We investigated the moult of melodious
warblers Hippolais polyglotta, willow warblers Phyl-
loscopus trochilus and pied flycatchers Ficedula hypol-
euca wintering in Comoe´ National Park, Ivory Coast,
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