Data were collected at the "Akcja Carpatica" ringing station in the southern Poland in 2000-2003. In total 388 Robins and 357 Chiffchaffs were tested with the Busse's method (Busse 1995) for directional preferences during autumn migration. The data were elaborated using a non-standard calculation procedure proposed by Busse and Trocińska (1999) that could be applied to multimodal circular distributions.
Tested birds showed
The species seasonal catching dynamics was divided into periods reflecting migration waves. Both studied species showed differentiation of directional preferences. In the Robin such directions as: SSE, SSW, ESE and WSW were noted. Most clear migration pattern was observed for the Chiffchaff — SSE and WSW directions dominated.
Although in both species sampling was short and irregular, the Chiffchaff migration pattern was clear and similar in all studied seasons. On the contrary, the Robin showed complicated and difficult to analyse headings' distributions. Robins indicated both intra- and interseasonal differentiation of directional preferences.