Migrating birds chill to fatten up

Marathon runners are famed for pasta packing in the days before a big run but when tiny passerine birds set out on their epic migrations, the distances are too great to cover on the energy reserves with which they embark. Micha? Wojciechowski and Berry Pinshow explain that most birds stop off en route to their destination to refuel. One of the Eurasian blackcaps' preferred refuelling stops is Midreshet Ben-Gurion, Israel, where the birds fill up on fruit and insects before setting off again. Knowing that birds expend twice as much energy during stopovers than they use in transit, the duo wondered whether the tiny aviators drop their body temperature at night during stopovers to save energy and build up their reserves faster...

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