Most birds cannot cover the distance between their breeding and winter quarters in one hop.
They have to make multiple flights alternated with stopovers. Which factors govern the birds¿
decisions to stop to stop for how long when to resume flight? What is better ¿ to accumulate
much fuel and to make long flights for many hundreds of kilometres or to travel in small
steps? Is it necessary to find habitats similar to the breeding ones or other habitats would
do? Are long migratory flights indeed so costly energetically as usually assumed? This
monograph summarizes our current knowledge on the ecology of songbird migrants during migratory
stopovers and on their behaviour.¿
