Instruct: Given a question, retrieve documents that can help answer the question.
Query: Do water rails migrate?
The water rail is monogamous and highly territorial when breeding. The birds pair off after arriving at their nesting areas, or possibly even before spring migration. In large wetlands with good conditions birds may nest apart. Territories vary in size, but is typical. The pair give courting and contact calls throughout the breeding season. The male selects the nest site which he shows to the female while posturing with raised back feathers, wings arched over his back, tail spread and bill pointed vertically downwards. This display is accompanied by a loud call. Before mating, he raises his wings and tail, and bows with his bill touching his breast. The male feeds the female during courtship, and, when incubating, she may leave the nest to display to the male, walking round him, calling softly, rubbing her bill against his and taking short runs to and from him.
Sturgeon are an anadromous species that live solitarily or in small groups. They migrate upriver in the spring to spawn. Sturgeons tend to inhabit the shallow waters of coastal shelves, coastal and estuarine areas on soft bottom in the sea, and can live down to a depth of 50 meters. Adults are migratory while at sea and will make long migrations to coastal areas, while juveniles will stay in fresh or brackish water until they are between two and five years of age. However, many larvae and juveniles do start to migrate and disperse small distances from their spawning sites.
Even those near the northern limits of their range, where winters are harsh and likely to bear little in food, the eagle-owl does not leave its native range. There are cases from Russia of Eurasian eagle-owls moving south for the winter, as the icebound, infamously harsh climate there is too severe even for these hardy birds and their prey. Similarly, Eurasian eagle-owls living in the Tibetan highlands and Himalayas may in some cases vacate their normal territories when winter hits and move south. Even in those two examples, there is no evidence of consistent, annual migration by Eurasian eagle-owls and the birds may eke out a living on their normal territories even in the sparsest times.
The birds of Thailand are mainly typical of the Indomalaya ecozone, with affinities to the Indian subcontinent to the west, and, particularly in Southern Thailand, with the Sundaic fauna to the southeast. The northern mountains are outliers of the Tibetan Plateau, with many species of montane birds, and in winter the avifauna is augmented by migrants from the eastern Palearctic and Himalayas. That Thailand's habitats are contiguous with those of neighbouring countries explains the low number of endemic species.
About 400 bird species have been recorded in Ireland. Many of these species are migratory. There are Arctic birds, which come in the winter, and birds such as the swallow, which come from Africa in the summer to breed. Many birds which are common residents in Britain and continental Europe are rare or unusual in Ireland, examples include the tawny owl, willow tit, marsh tit, nuthatch, and all woodpecker species except the recently established great spotted woodpecker. These are birds which do not move great distances and their absence may be due to Ireland's early isolation, but also Ireland's mild weather means early breeding and choice of best habitats which gives residents an advantage over visitors.
The family Stercorariidae are, in general, medium to large birds, typically with grey or brown plumage, often with white markings on the wings. They nest on the ground in temperate and arctic regions and are long-distance migrants.
There are over 100 species of birds, of which ten are endemic. Many birds are passing vagrants, such as the great cormorant ("Phalacrocorax carbo"). Others, like the lesser frigatebird ("Fregata ariel"), are more regular visitors. Bird populations are threatened due to the invasive yellow crazy ant, and reports have suggested that the ant has attacked hatchlings and harassed adults in their nests. All endemic bird species have been placed on the critically endangered list.
Observations of the species are usually made when it is disturbed and the individual will fly to a high perch and call briefly before relocating to another part of its territory. The behaviour of the red-eared firetail in captivity is also reported by aviculturalists as mostly secretive and the birds will become anxious in response to strangers. Birds in captivity will tolerate and watch a familiar person and they will eventually resume their movement about the cage. The individuals exhibit a tapping habit when closely observed, using their bill to strike twice or wipe across each branch it lands upon. The species is most active in the early morning, in movement and vocalisation, and curious about any novelty in their aviary. Adults and young use their aviary's roosting nest at night. They are seen bathing themselves in water for extended periods, becoming completely immersed at times.
The Paridae are mainly small stocky woodland species with short stout bills. Some have crests. They are adaptable birds, with a mixed diet including seeds and insects. Four species have been recorded in Washington.Order: PasseriformesFamily: Aegithalidae
Immelmann remarked that the species' ability to negotiate the dense vegetation of its habitat was more adept than that of other Australian grassfinches. They move along branches by pivoting from "side to side in small hops in an arc-like pattern." Downward, the red-eared firetail moves quickly and acrobatically through the thick foliage.
The red-eared firetail ("Stagonopleura oculata"), also known as the boorin, is a small finch-like species of bird. It occurs in dense wetland vegetation of coastal to sub-coastal regions in Southwest Australia. Its appearance is considered appealing, with white spots, black barring and vivid crimson marks at the ear and upper tail. Red-eared firetails are usually only glimpsed briefly, if at all, as they move rapidly and discreetly through their habitat. Most observations occur when their soft voice is heard, or in flight when flushed from the dense scrub. Males and females are similar in colouring and bond as lifelong pairs that occupy a territory centred on their roosting and brooding nest site. The species occupy a similar ecological niche to the beautiful firetail "Stagonopleura bella" found in the east of Australia, although unlike other species of the genus they only occasionally group together and are almost never seen in large flocks.
During the subsequent few months, the larvae undergo metamorphosis, during which they develop legs, and the gills are absorbed and replaced by air-breathing lungs. Some species, such as the North American newts, also become more brightly coloured during this phase. Once fully metamorphosised, they leave the water and live a terrestrial life, when they are known as "efts". Only when the eft reaches adulthood will the North American species return to live in water, rarely venturing back onto the land. Conversely, most European species live their adult lives on land and only visit water to breed.
The Paridae are mainly small stocky woodland species with short stout bills. Some have crests. They are adaptable birds, with a mixed diet including seeds and insects.
Mammals native to the state include the bat, black bear, bobcat, cougar, coyote, deer, elk, gray wolf, moose, mountain beaver, muskrat, opossum, pocket gopher, raccoon, river otter, skunk, and tree squirrel. Because of the wide range of geography, the State of Washington is home to several different ecoregions which allow for a varied range of bird species. This range includes raptors, shorebirds, woodland birds, grassland birds, ducks, and others. There have also been a large number of species introduced to Washington, dating back to the early 18th century, including horses and burros. The channel catfish, lamprey, and sturgeon are among the 400 known freshwater fishes. Along with the Cascades frog, there are several forms of snakes that define the most prominent reptiles and amphibians. Coastal bays and islands are often inhabited by plentiful amounts of shellfish and whales. There are five species of salmon that ascend the Western Washington area, from streams to spawn.
The family Stercorariidae are, in general, medium to large birds, typically with grey or brown plumage, often with white markings on the wings. They nest on the ground in temperate and arctic regions and are long-distance migrants. There are 7 species worldwide and 1 species which occurs in the Comoros.Order: CharadriiformesFamily: Laridae
Adults are primarily found in estuaries and marine waters to a depth of , but mostly less than . Nevertheless, the species does appear to have a greater affinity for freshwater habitats than the smalltooth sawfish ("P. pectinata"), green sawfish ("P. zijsron"), and dwarf sawfish ("P. clavata"). Largetooth sawfish from the population in Lake Nicaragua appear to spend most, if not all, of their life in freshwater, but tagging surveys indicate that at least some do move between this lake and the sea. Captive studies show that this euryhaline species can thrive long-term in both salt and freshwater, regardless of its age, and that an acclimation from salt to freshwater is faster than the opposite. In captivity they are known to be agile (even swimming backwards), have an unusual ability to "climb" with the use of the pectoral fins and they can jump far out of the water; a individual jumped to a height of . It has been suggested that this may be adaptions for traversing medium-sized waterfalls and rapids when moving upriver. They are generally found in areas with a bottom consisting of sand, mud or silt. The preferred water temperature is between , and or colder is lethal.
The pregnancy lasts several months. There are 1–23 young in each sawfish litter, which are long at birth. In the embryos the rostrum is flexible and it only hardens shortly before birth. To protect the mother the saws of the young have a soft cover, which falls off shortly after birth. The pupping grounds are in coastal and estuarine waters. In most species the young generally stay there for the first part of their lives, occasionally moving upriver when there is an increase in salinity. The exception is the largetooth sawfish where the young move upriver into freshwater where they stay for 3–5 years, sometimes as much as from the sea. In at least the smalltooth sawfish the young show a degree of site fidelity, generally staying in the same fairly small area in the first part of their lives. In the green and dwarf sawfish there are indications that both sexes remain in the same overall region throughout their lives with little mixing between the subpopulations. In the largetooth sawfish the males appear to move more freely between the subpopulations, while mothers return to the region where they were born to give birth to their own young.
Planets that formed in the outer, water-rich regions of a disk and migrated inward are more likely to have abundant water. Conversely, planets that formed close to their host stars are less likely to have water because the primordial disks of gas and dust are thought to have hot and dry inner regions. So if a water world is found close to a star, it would be strong evidence for migration and "ex situ" formation, because insufficient volatiles exist near the star for "in situ" formation. Simulations of Solar System formation and of extra-solar system formation have shown that planets are likely to migrate inward (i.e., toward the star) as they form. Outward migration may also occur under particular conditions. Inward migration presents the possibility that icy planets could move to orbits where their ice melts into liquid form, turning them into ocean planets. This possibility was first discussed in the astronomical literature by Marc Kuchner and Alain Léger in 2004.
Over 600 species of bird have been recorded in Japan and more than 250 of these breed. A number of birds are endemic including the Japanese woodpecker ("Picus awokera"), copper pheasant ("Syrmaticus soemmerringii") and Japan's national bird, the green pheasant ("Phasianus versicolor"). Several species are unique to the smaller islands including the Okinawa rail ("Gallirallus okinawae"), Izu thrush ("Turdus celaenops") and Bonin white-eye ("Apalopteron familiare "). Most of the non-endemic birds are shared with China but a few originate in Siberia or south-east Asia.
Throughout the western Mediterranean region, the Eurasian Eagle-Owl is something of a specialist on a single prey species: the European rabbit. The rabbit historically reached extremely high densities in Iberian scrub, i.e. more than 40 per every 1 square hectare (2471 square acres). In central Spain, up to 73.1% of the prey that were recorded for Eurasian eagle-owls, by number, can be rabbits. Where still available, they are also the main prey in Portugal and central France. However, following the devastation of the wild rabbit due to rabbit haemorrhagic disease, the local eagle-owls have frequently had to adapt to other, often smaller, prey. On the other hand, given the now much reduced numbers of rabbits, the eagle-owls still regularly select rabbits, seemingly out of proportion to their commonality. Although large mature wild rabbits commonly weigh , the eagle-owls usually hunt smaller specimens, often with an average weight around , with young rabbits usually selected in spring and summer and subadults selected in the autumn and winter. This is largely due to the behaviour of rabbits, with younger rabbits being forced to distribute following weaning, being less cautious in behaviour and occupying less primary habitat, thus being forced out of the confines of their burrows more regularly than mature adults. However, the estimated average weight of rabbits taken can be variable, reported from as little as in a study from Spain to as much as in the Netherlands.
Another reason for DNA testing was to determine the rates of hybridization between pallid and shovelnose sturgeon. The southern populations have more hybrids than are found in the middle sections of the Missouri River basin, while the northernmost populations have had few reports of hybrids. Hybrids are most common in the Atchafalaya River in Louisiana, and DNA sequencing in these hybrids showed a genetic distinction from pallid sturgeon, but based on the genetic markers assessed, they were genetically indistinguishable from shovelnose sturgeon. Because of this ability of two species to hybridize, some biologists have expressed concern that it is a violation of the Endangered Species Act to protect one species that may not be genetically isolated from another. It is not known if the hybrids are able to reproduce or not, although they appear to be the result of pallid sturgeon eggs being fertilized by shovelnose sturgeon males.
Many marine mammals seasonally migrate. Annual ice contains areas of water that appear and disappear throughout the year as the weather changes, and seals migrate in response to these changes. In turn, polar bears must follow their prey. In Hudson Bay, James Bay, and some other areas, the ice melts completely each summer (an event often referred to as "ice-floe breakup"), forcing polar bears to go onto land and wait through the months until the next freeze-up. In the Chukchi and Beaufort seas, polar bears retreat each summer to the ice further north that remains frozen year-round. Seals may also migrate to other environmental changes, such as El Niño, and traveling seals may use various features of their environment to reach their destination including geomagnetic fields, water and wind currents, the position of the sun and moon and the taste and temperature of the water. Baleen whales famously migrate very long distances into tropical waters to give birth and raise young, possibly to prevent predation by killer whales. The gray whale has the longest recorded migration of any mammal, with one traveling from the Sea of Okhotsk to the Baja Peninsula. During the winter, manatees living at the northern end of their range migrate to warmer waters.
Water rails are omnivorous, although they mainly feed on animals. These include leeches, worms, gastropods, small crustaceans, spiders, and a wide range of both terrestrial and aquatic insects and their larvae. Small vertebrates such as amphibians, fish, birds and mammals may be killed or eaten as carrion. Vertebrates are impaled with a strike of the bill which breaks the prey's spinal cord. Plant food, which is consumed more in autumn and winter, includes the buds, flowers, shoots and seeds of water plants, berries and fruit. In south Asia, paddy (harvested rice kernels) may sometimes be eaten. The young rails are fed mainly on insects and spiders. Food obtained on land or from mud is normally washed in water before it is eaten. After rain, rails may probe soft ground for earthworms. This species will occasionally feed in the open even when not forced to do so by cold weather; Edmund Meade-Waldo described seven rails feeding in an open meadow. Despite its skulking nature, the water rail appears to thrive in captivity when fed on animal food such as raw meat or earthworms; one individual was taught to jump for worms suspended from a fishing rod.
Organisms will migrate to a water depth with suitable temperatures that best suit the organisms needs, for example some fish species migrate to warmer surface waters in order to aid digestion. Temperature changes can influence swimming behavior of some copepods. In the presence of a strong thermocline some zooplankton may be inclined to pass through it, and migrate to the surface waters, though this can be very variable even in a single species. The marine copepod, "Calanus finmarchicus," will migrate through gradients with temperature differences of 6 °C over George's Ban"k;" whereas, in the North Sea they are observed to remain below the gradient.
Adults migrate from the ocean to spawn in fresh water. Juveniles migrate to the sea where they feed and become sexually mature before returning to fresh water to overwinter and spawn. Unlike steelhead and Pacific salmon, coastal cutthroat do not make lengthy migrations out to sea. Generally speaking, coastal cutthroat will remain in or near estuarine waters, usually within 5–10 mi (10–15 km) of their natal stream. Some cutthroat, however, have been shown to move as far as 70 mi (110 km) into the open ocean. There are also lacustrine and riverine populations that spend their entire lives in freshwater. One such population is the trout of Lake Crescent in Washington state that was formerly considered to be a separate subspecies called the Lake Crescent cutthroat trout, "Oncorhynchus clarkii crescenti".