We present the results of monitoring the nesting of wader birds in the “Gródek” grazing area, Podlasie.
On the map you can see very well where breeding pairs congregate – they prefer heavily watered areas with large puddles of water on the surface – on one of them we observed breeding Eurasian teals.
The 2022 nest search and inspection were conducted from March 30 to July 09 in teams of 2-6 people.
One inspection took 2 or 3 days in the field, for a total of 28 days spent in the field by colleagues from the Dubelt Naturalist Society.
Inspections until the end of May were carried out at intervals of several days, with the highest intensity of fieldwork occurring in the last two decades of April, and in May.
A total of 156 nests of wader birds were found:
- 120 on plot A1,
- 33 on plot A2,
- 2 nests on plot B
- 1 on plot C .
Lapwing (n=90), redshank (n=31) and black-tailed godwit (n=26) nests were found the most often. In addition, 6 nests of the ruff, 2 of the common snipe and one of the great snipe were found.
Unfortunately, we still cannot find the curlew.
Plot description:
- Grazed area with anti-predator fence with extensive water management system – research plot A1 (42 ha),
- Grazed area with extensive water management system A2 (26 ha), planned construction of anti-predator fence in 2023,
- Mowed area with extensive water management system – research plot B (63 ha),
- Mowing area without water management – research plot C (65 ha).
In the next post, we will show the breeding success and reasons for the loss in the area.
Wesja Polska