Ibis
Other than during periods of migration, animal movement tends to be poorly described, despite the potential importance of such movements, which may prove crucial for surviving periods of bad weather and low food availability. We analysed within‐winter (December–February) movements of Mallard using the EURING Data Bank. Most movements were directed towards the south or southwest during all three winter...
The Little Bustard is suffering a widespread population decline mainly due to agricultural intensification. This study evaluates the effects of intensification level, habitat availability and rainfall on the population dynamics of this species. The population density of males was monitored for 7 years (2002–2008) at 184 points located within three sites with contrasting levels of agricultural intensification...
Agricultural intensification is one of the main drivers of farmland bird declines, but effects on birds may be confounded with those of climate change. Here we examine the effects of intensification and climate change on a grassland breeding wader, the Black‐tailed Godwit Limosa l. limosa, in the Netherlands. Population decline has been linked to poor chick survival which, in turn, has been linked...
The ideal free distribution (IFD) model predicts that a density‐dependent mechanism operates to regulate habitat selection and reproductive performance. We studied a Little Grebe Tachybaptus ruficollis population, which breeds on irrigation ponds in the Vega Baja Valley (southeastern Spain) to test the premises of the IFD model. These ponds are highly dynamic because they are managed according to...
Lesser Spotted Woodpecker Dendrocopos minor numbers have declined greatly in England since the early 1980s for reasons that are not yet fully understood. It has been suggested that the species’ decline may be linked to the increase in Great Spotted Woodpeckers Dendrocopos major, changes in woodland habitat quality (such as deadwood abundance) and landscape‐scale changes in tree abundance. We tested...
Understanding factors related to the range expansion trajectory of a successful invasive species may provide insights into environmental variables that favour additional expansion or guide monitoring and survey efforts for this and other invasive species. We examined the relationship of presence and abundance of Eurasian Collared Doves Streptopelia decaocto to environmental factors using recent data...
The Grey Partridge Perdix perdix is a European Species of Conservation Concern and a priority species under the UK Biodiversity Action Plan. The Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) launched a major programme to help partridge recovery in the UK, built on the GWCT’s Partridge Count Scheme (PCS) and including a demonstration site from 2002. We contrast the national picture of no population...
A species’ susceptibility to environmental change might be predicted by its ecological and life‐history traits. However, the effects of such traits on long‐term bird population trends have not yet been assessed using a comprehensive set of explanatory variables. Moreover, the extent to which phylogeny affects patterns in the interspecific variability of population changes is unclear. Our study focuses...
We compared birds in a group of established and well‐managed miscanthus (Miscanthus x giganteus) fields in Somerset and East Devon, southwestern England, with plots of short rotation coppice (SRC) willow, arable crops and grassland in two winters and one summer. Following early spring cutting, 19 miscanthus fields grew taller, initially produced greater cover and were less weedy than SRC. As stubble...
The decline of the Bittern Botaurus stellaris has long been symbolic of wetland habitat loss and fragmentation across western Europe. Wetland restoration and creation activity, targeted at Bittern, has been ongoing in the UK for more than 10 years and the overall numbers of occupied sites has increased five‐fold in that time. The strong recovery, whilst cause for celebration, disguises the continued...
Social status can be reflected in many aspects of an individual’s behaviour and ecology, including habitat use and conspecific interactions. In territorial species where at least two social groups – breeding birds and non‐territorial floaters – are recognized, the diverse tasks associated with territorial ownership can lead territory holders to behave differently from the non‐territorial part of the...
In environments where habitat quality varies, the mechanism by which individuals assess and select habitats has significant consequences on their spatial distribution and ability to respond to environmental change. Each year, thousands of Black Brent Geese Branta bernicla nigricans migrate to the Teshekpuk Lake Special Area (TLSA), Alaska, to undergo a flightless wing‐moult. Over the last three decades,...
The UK has sovereignty over 16 Overseas Territories, which hold some of the world’s great seabird colonies and collectively support more endemic and globally threatened bird species than the whole of mainland Europe. Invasive alien mammalian predators have spread throughout most of the Territories, primarily since European expansion in the 16th century. Here we review and synthesize the scale of their...
The Shiny Cowbird Molothrus bonariensis is a sexually dichromatic species, in which males have blackish‐blue iridescence and females are dull brown. However, in some subtropical parts of its distribution, females show a plumage polymorphism that ranges from dull brown to dark brown and even black. Plumage melanization has been shown to protect feathers from bacterial degradation, decreasing the effects...
We review published studies to show that changes in soil moisture levels have significant impacts on a range of wading bird species that use UK lowland grassland, including wet grassland, and obtain their food predominantly by probing the soil. We examine both the hydrological and the ecological literature and assess how management options could alter (1) ecosystem services (via water quality and...
One potential approach to combat the impacts of climate change is the expansion of renewable energy installations, leading to an increase in the number of wave‐powered marine renewable energy installations (MREIs). The consequences of increased use of these devices for birds are unknown. Here we describe the wave‐powered energy‐generating devices currently either operational or in development and...