Population, breeding success as well as feeding ecology and breeding settlement of the young birds of Pied Avoced Recurvirostra avosetta in the North Frisian ‘Naturschutzköge’ Beltringharder Koog and Fahretofter Westerkoog 1991 to 2019
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21248/corax.v24.169Abstract
The Avocet population in the Wadden Sea has decreased significantly over the past twenty years. It can be assumed that the decline in the population is due to insufficient reproduction. In this article, data on the population and the breeding success of the Avocet in the North Frisian ‘nature conservation polders’ Beltringharder Koog (BHK) and Fahretofter Westerkoog (FTK) from 1991 to 2019 are analysed and results on the ecology of the young birds are discussed in this context. These are supplemented by data on the settlement behavior of colour-ringed young birds from 2017 and 2018.
From 1991 to 2019, the breeding population fluctuated around a median of 298 pairs in the BHK and around 156 pairs in the FTK. The breeding success fluctuated in the BHK around a median of 0.1 fledglings/breeding pair and in the FTK and the adjacent foreland around a median of 0.2 fledglings/breeding pair. There was no significant change in the breeding success in the BHK, but it decreased significantly in the FTK and the neighboring foreland. Up to 2013, a higher breeding success was found in most years in the FTK compared to the BHK.
Under unfavourable weather conditions, the young birds can be forced to enter into an energetic bottleneck in favour of searching for food (‘freezing or starving’). In foreland habitats such as the FTK, young Avocets are evidently better able to survive such situations by taking in larger prey items than in embankments (BHK). This gives a possible explanation for the often higher breeding
success in foreland habitats. Of the 74 fledglings that were colour-ringed in 2017 and 2018, a total of 19 individuals (26 %) were seen again during the breeding season up to 2020. Of these 19 birds, 14 individuals (74 %) were observed in the study areas and at least five individuals (26 %) in areas outside of Germany.
The currently stable populations in our study areas are of great importance for the Avocet in Schleswig-Holstein. The breeding success is apparently not sufficient to guarantee the conservation of the Wadden Sea population. This population is presumably supported by immigrating individuals from other breeding areas. For the protection of the species, measures to increase the hatching success, but above all the breeding success, are necessary. The increase in hatching success through the creation of colony sites which are largely protected against predators and disturbances should be reachable by the management of the protected areas. The often higher breeding success suggests that access to the Wadden Sea offers significantly more favourable conditions for high breeding success than breeding habitats located in pure inland habitats.
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