Data from: First records of complete annual cycles in water rails Rallus aquaticus show evidence of itinerant breeding and a complex migration system

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/10.5441/001/1.761jk64n

Abstract

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

Taxa

Taxon

Rallus aquaticus

Water Rail

Sensors

Sensor

Solar Geolocator

DOIs of related Publications

https://doi.org/10.1111/jav.02595

URI

https://datarepository.movebank.org/handle/10255/move.1208

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  -

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