Monsoon winds create an expressway for migratory shorebirds on the East Asia-Australasian Flyway

Billions of birds have adapted to traveling life, with the atmosphere playing an essential role in their migration. In Asia, monsoons represent a dominant large-scale circulation that may shape migration along the East Asia-Australasian Flyway. Here we combined satellite tracking of three migratory shorebirds, including Chinese egrets (Egretta eulophotes), Vega gulls (Larus vegae), and pied avocets (Recurvirostra avosetta), with analyses of monsoon index to examine how wind influence migration. We estimated flight speeds, energy use and atmosphere circulation patterns to assess the contribution of monsoon winds. The results reveal that monsoon provides substantial support to migratory shorebirds, enhancing flight speeds and reducing energetic costs, and the initiation of migration is associated with synchronous changes in monsoons systems. We suggest the monsoon creates continuous wind fields, and forms wind expressways for migratory birds in East Asia. Migratory shorebirds can leverage monsoon winds to have higher speeds along the East Asia-Australasian Flyway, reveals an analysis of satellite tracking of three bird species and monsoon indexes.