Recipe for energy saving unravelled in migratory birds Pointed wings together with carrying less weight per wing area and avoidance of high winds and atmospheric turbulence save a bird loads of energy during migration. This has been shown for the first time in free-flying wild birds by researchers at Princeton University, the University of Montana, and the German Max Planck Institute for Ornithology. They state in PLoS ONE's May 14th edition that climate change might have a critical impact on small migrants' energy budgets if it causes higher winds and atmospheric instability as predicted. The costs of migration are enormous: in small songbirds, flight increases energy expenditure by approximately 50 % during the migratory period. Biologists Melissa Bowlin and Martin Wikelski examined the energetics of Swainson's thrushes, which are often used to study migration. Some of these small songbirds of only 30 g travel an amazing distance of about 4800 km from their winter site in Panama to breed in Canada, and back again. In total, a one-way trip takes 3.2 million wing beats and about 1300 kJ of extra energy. As they can not take much fuel '