Great Snipes in sub-Saharan Africa: seasonal patterns of abundance, moult and body mass in relation to age and sex

The interplay between moult of flight feathers and fuelling conducted on the breeding grounds of the Great SnipeGallinago mediafrom the eastern European, lowland population

“…Moreover, males arrive sooner to sub-Saharan Africa compared to females, explaining their need for more rapid fuelling (Debayle et al 2017). The overall rate of fuelling and maximum mass obtained in both sexes was similar to mass gain rates reported for fuelling on wintering grounds, before northward migratory flight (Debayle et al 2017).…”

“…Moreover, estimated end dates of the primary moult indicate that males should complete the exchange of their primaries in mid-September and females in mid-November. At this time both male and female Great Snipes already arrive at their wintering grounds (Korniluk et al 2015, Lindström et al 2016, Debayle et al 2017, which means that Great Snipes are unable to conclude this process at their breeding grounds. Although the beginning of flight feathers moult on breeding grounds is rare in long distant migratory waders (Kjellén 1994, Remisiewicz 2011), this strategy may be advantageous, as migrants should benefit from expanding their flight feathers moult duration, since slowly grown feathers are of better quality (Dawson et al 2000b, Serra 2001b).…”

“…On the contrary, females with breeding success and therefore large energy expenditure in the chick-rearing period probably moult late in the season, or postpone the moult altogether, until the arrival to the wintering grounds. Indeed, in sub-Saharan Africa, there were some females recorded without any signs of moulting of the flight feathers upon their arrival (Debayle et al 2017). Hence, provided estimates of the primary moult parameters for females based on the Underhill-Zucchini moult model, describe only a general tendency in the primary moult in females.…”

“…Moreover, males arrive sooner to sub-Saharan Africa compared to females, explaining their need for more rapid fuelling (Debayle et al 2017). The overall rate of fuelling and maximum mass obtained in both sexes was similar to mass gain rates reported for fuelling on wintering grounds, before northward migratory flight (Debayle et al 2017). Still, comparing the fuel load of other waders of a similar size (Gudmundsson et al 1991, Kvist & Lindström 2003, Piersma et al 2005, the fuelling rate presented in our study is relatively low for a long-distance migrant, covering 5000 km with a non-stop flight (Lindström et al 2016).…”

The level of water in the river flowing through the breeding site shapes the body condition of a lekking bird—the Great Snipe Gallinago media

“…The floodplain meadows of the middle Pripyat River are an important stopover site for the wildfowl and waders during spring migration (Meissner et al 2011;Pinchuk and Karlionova 2011;Pinchuk et al 2016) and some Great Snipes may use this area as a stopover site. Moreover, Great Snipes start moult of primary feathers on their breeding grounds at the beginning of June (Cramp and Simmons 1983;Debayle et al 2017). The earliest start of moult in the studied population was recorded on the 6th of June (authors' unpublished data).…”