Data from: First records of complete annual cycles in water rails Rallus aquaticus show evidence of itinerant breeding and a complex migration system
Data from: First records of complete annual cycles in water rails Rallus aquaticus show evidence of itinerant breeding and a complex migration system
Citation
Lislevand T, Hahn S, Rislaa S, Briedis M. 2020. Data from: First records of complete annual cycles in water rails Rallus aquaticus show evidence of itinerant breeding and a complex migration system. Movebank Data Repository. https://doi.org/10.5441/001/1.761jk64nAbstract
In water rails Rallus aquaticus, northern and eastern populations are migratory while southern and western populations are sedentary. Few details are known about the annual cycle of this elusive species. We studied movements and breeding in water rails from southernmost Norway where the species occurs year‐round. Colour‐ringed wintering birds occurred only occasionally at the study site in summer, and vice versa. Geolocator tracks revealed that wintering birds (n = 10) migrated eastwards in spring to breed on both sides of the Baltic Sea, whereas a single breeding bird from the study site wintered in N Italy. Ambient light records of geolocator birds further indicated that all but one incubated 2–4 clutches per season. By combining information on incubation and movement, we found evidence for itinerant breeding in three individual birds: After a first breeding attempt (one did not incubate), all moved 129–721 km to breed again. This behaviour is rarely recorded in birds and was unexpected because the water rail is described as monogamous with both parents caring for eggs and chicks. The study greatly improves our knowledge about the annual cycle and reproduction in water rails. However, more studies are warranted to evaluate the generality of our findings and causes of breeding itinerancy.
Keywords
Rallus aquaticus, animal tracking, avian migration, geolocator, incubation, light-level logger, migration ecology, Rallus aquaticus, water rails, wetland birds, wintering
DOIs of related Publications
BibTex
@misc{001/1_761jk64n, title = {Data from: First records of complete annual cycles in water rails Rallus aquaticus show evidence of itinerant breeding and a complex migration system}, author = {Lislevand, T and Hahn, S and Rislaa, S and Briedis, M}, year = {2020}, URL = {http://dx.doi.org/10.5441/001/1.761jk64n}, doi = {doi:10.5441/001/1.761jk64n}, publisher = {Movebank data repository} }
RIS
TY - DATA ID - doi:10.5441/001/1.761jk64n T1 - Data from: First records of complete annual cycles in water rails Rallus aquaticus show evidence of itinerant breeding and a complex migration system AU - Lislevand, Terje AU - Hahn, Steffen AU - Rislaa, Sven AU - Briedis, Martins Y1 - 2020/11/30 KW - Rallus aquaticus KW - animal movement KW - animal tracking KW - avian migration KW - geolocator KW - incubation KW - light-level logger KW - migration ecology KW - Rallus aquaticus KW - water rails KW - wetland birds KW - wintering KW - Rallus aquaticus PB - Movebank data repository UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.5441/001/1.761jk64n DO - doi:10.5441/001/1.761jk64n ER -