Today, nesting success and the causes of breeding losses.
The nesting success check consisted of checking the condition of the nests already after the chicks were expected to hatch – about 7 days afterwards.
The causes of breeding losses are divided into the following categories:
- Mammals – crushed eggs or clear teeth marks and all nests robbed at night.
- Birds – eggs pecked by birds.
- Predator unspecified – when predation was found without the possibility of assignment to the category of birds or mammals.
- Other – other reasons for the destruction of the nest.
- Fate unknown – unknown fate of the nest – remains not found.
- Cases of brood abandonment (cat. abandoned) were also noted.
In the study area – an area of about 200 hectares – 156 nests were found (nesting pairs for the black-tailed godwit, redshank and lapwing, and females for the great snipe, common snipe and ruff). At the same time, we want to emphasize that 120 nests were located in an area of 42 hectares surrounded by an electric fence and another 33 nests in the area next to it. Both of these areas are heavily waterlogged and grazed by Polish Koniks after breeding.
Overall, it is estimated that for about 60% of pairs of lapwings, about 75% of pairs of redshanks and about 87% of pairs of black-tailed godwits, nesting was successful. In the case of the great snipe, common snipe and ruff, all the females found had nesting success. Successful nesting was considered when hatching occurred from at least one egg and chicks or traces of hatching were found in the nest.
For 28% of nests, it was not possible to determine which group of predators was potentially responsible for the loss of broods. Such a high proportion is due to the inoperability of some of the temperature loggers left in the nests and the absence of any remnants of robbed and destroyed eggs.
The monitoring was carried out by the TowarzystwoPrzyrodniczeDubelt (Dubelt Naturalist Society)
Wesja Polska