Is There a “Migratory Syndrome” Common to All Migrant Birds?

Bird migration has been assumed, mostly implicitly, to represent a distinct class of animal behavior, with deep and strong homologies in the various phenotypic expressions of migratory behavior between different taxa. Here the evidence for the existence of what could be called a “migratory syndrome,” a tightly integrated, old group of adaptive traits that enables birds to commit themselves to highly organized seasonal migrations, is assessed. A list of problems faced by migratory birds is listed first and the traits that migratory birds have evolved to deal with these problems are discussed. The usefulness of comparative approaches to investigate which traits are unique to migrants is then discussed. A provisional conclusion that, perhaps apart from a capacity for night-time compass orientation, there is little evidence for deeply rooted coadapted trait complexes that could make up such a migratory syndrome, is suggested. Detailed analyses of the genetic and physiological architecture of potential adaptations to migration, combined with a comparative approach to further identify the phylogenetic levels at which different adaptive traits for migration have evolved, are recommended.