Wintering Range of the Blackcap (<i>Sylvia atricapilla</i>) in Europe - Stabilized or Changing?

Mokwa, Katarzyna

doi:10.2478/v10050-008-0052-8

Cited by 5 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 7 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…In fact, the much-publicised wintering of central European Blackcaps in Britain has found its counterpart in much of western Europe and in Scandinavia (Bengtsson et al 2009), where wintering has become widespread in recent decades. Ringing recoveries and geolocator data also suggest high plasticity and consistent changes in migratory behaviour of Blackcaps (Mokwa 2009, Hiemer et al 2018, Delmore et al 2020), but the disappearance of this species and Common Chiffchaff as common wintering birds in the Sahel (except western- and easternmost) went completely unnoticed. What such changes impart on the life histories of the birds involved is as yet unclear (Delmore et al 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 87%

The Fortunes of Migratory Birds from Eurasia: Being on a Tightrope in the Sahel

Zwarts¹,

Bijlsma²,

Kamp³

2023

Ardea

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Many studies have shown that rainfall in the Sahel has a great influence on population trends of European bird species that spend the northern winter there. African bird species living in the Sahel, notably those that forage on the ground, have also shown significant declines, but independent of rainfall. This paper summarises the results of field data gathered in the entire Sahel and evaluates the many factors that play a role in the fortunes of birds. (1) Rainfall determines the extent of open water in the Sahel, and by default the fortunes of waterbirds. In recent decades the surface area of open water has increased because water tables have risen. (2) Rainfall south of the Sahel determines river discharge and therefore the surface of floodplains in the Sahel. Rainfall has a cumulative effect: discharges disproportionally decrease after a number of years with little rain, and vice versa. During the dry season (October-May), floodplains gradually dry out. In wet years, water -and hence food -is available for birds up to their departure, but in dry years birds become concentrated at the few remaining pools and so present an easy target for bird-trappers. Further desiccation leads to starvation. (3) After a year with heavy rainfall, seed is available in abundance, but a dry year results in a shift in the plant community and a low seed supply. Mortality among seedeaters increases under dry conditions. (4) In dry years, trees lose their leaves early on, forcing arboreal birds into a diminishing number of trees that retain leaves. In extremely dry years trees die on a massive scale and it takes many years before tree coverage is restored. When droughts occur in quick succession, as in 1972/73 and again in 1984/85, tree recovery is slow and populations of arboreal birds will continue to decline, or recover slowly or only partly (as for Eurasian Wryneck Jynx torquilla and Common Redstart Phoenicurus phoenicurus, whose numbers remain reduced by tenfold when compared to the 1950s, despite a slight recovery). Rainfall in the Sahel gradually recovered after 1990, as did the woody vegetation albeit with a delay, and many migratory bird species responded accordingly. Subalpine Warblers Curruca subalpina and Western Orphean Warblers Curruca hortensis have increased as much as threefold to fivefold since 1990. Southern European bird species, wintering in the arid parts of southern Sahara and Sahel, were hit the hardest during the Great Drought in 1969-1992, but also recovered the fastest, particularly strongly once rainfall had significantly recovered.Despite clear links between migratory birds and rainfall-related variables in their wintering areas, a migrant's world is more complicated than exclusively being constrained by rainfall. In the past century, the human population in sub-Saharan Africa has increased tenfold, with far-reaching consequences. (1) Cattle numbers boomed and grazing pressure increased greatly. Heavy grazing means lower grass seed production, especially of seeds that birds prefer. The steep decline of gr...

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 87%

The Fortunes of Migratory Birds from Eurasia: Being on a Tightrope in the Sahel

Zwarts¹,

Bijlsma²,

Kamp³

2023

Ardea

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…However, dispersers are different in different regions. Viscum a. album is dispersed by the blackcap Sylvia atricapilla around the Atlantic coast and the Mediterranean part of Europe (Mokwa 2009), while this role is taken by the mistle thrush Turdus viscivorus further to the east in continental Europe. Dividing the V. a. album area into these 2 regions and taking into account the localization of the adjacent area edge (the southern continental in our case) can be expected to result in an adequately homo geneous division of V a. album's area for conclusivelyinterpretableautecological−climatologicinvestigations.Inourstudy, we applied this regional perspective, limiting our study to: (1) the mistle thrush disperser (continental European) area;…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Considering autecology, the seeds of V. a. album are dispersed within Hungary by the mistle thrush Turdus viscivorus and by other thrushes, especially the fieldfare Turdus pilaris, but not by the blackcap Sylvia atricapilla, as dispersion by blackcap occurs on the Atlantic coasts of W Europe (Briggs 2011) and in S Europe. As in most parts of continental Europe (Mokwa 2009), the blackcap is migratory in Hungary, breeding and dispersing in the region between late March and mid-October. Since the ripening of V. a. album berries starts in November in Hungary and seed dispersal continues until early May (Kahle-Zuber 2008), the blackcap is absent during most of this period.…”

Section: Study Speciesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bioclimatic constraints of European mistletoe Viscum album at its southern distribution limit at past and present temporal scales, Pannonian Basin, Hungary

Molnár¹,

Végvári²

2017

Clim. Res.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The present study investigates climatic factors limiting a significant section of the southern boundary of the distribution of the European mistletoe Viscum album. Our study area was located in Hungary, within the Pannonian Basin biogeographical region in Central Europe, where forest and forest-steppe climates meet. We collected data from literature on the local distribution of V. album L. subsp. album (Wiesb.) Vollm., complemented by our own observations, in order to identify the boundary of the local range. We investigated the importance of climatic predictors in identifying the range, using discriminant analysis. July aridity was the best predictor of the limit of the occurrence of the study species, followed by mean July temperature and the sum of air temperature during the growing season. Results based on data from meteorological stations for 1901−1950 and on data from E-OBS grids for 1950−2010 identified similar bioclimatic preferences of V. album subsp. album.

show abstract

“…Furthermore, a low proportion of Blackcaps reaching the British Isles from Norway were ringed as breeders. Since there recovery rates in both the British Isles and the Iberian Peninsula are typically high (Mokwa 2004; an analysis of 8,246 recoveries), Norwegian breeding Blackcaps may only exceptionally migrate in that direction. Some Norwegian breeders do migrate to the south, i.e., in the direction of the Italian Peninsula.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The origin of Blackcaps Sylvia atricapilla wintering on the British Isles

Kopiec,

Ozarowska

2012

Ornis Fenn

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A migration route leading central European breeder Blackcaps to their winter quarters in Britain and Ireland was discovered in the 1960s. This phenomenon, representing a rapid evolutionary change of migratory behavior, can be explained by a shift in migration course towards the west and north-west (as opposed to the standard south-west direction) or reverse migration. These hypotheses were evaluated by analyzing the recoveries of Blackcaps either ringed or recovered on the British Isles. Blackcaps arriving in the British Isles from Scandinavia had been ringed over two weeks later than had been birds arriving from Central Western Europe, while no significant difference was found in the recovery dates of birds from these regions. Moreover, birds ringed in Scandinavia were recovered significantly later on the British Isles than in the continental Europe. This finding suggests that two populations migrate through Scandinavia: the local breeding population (migrating towards the south) and another with an unknown origin (possibly Central European, heading towards the north and west). Thus, some of the Blackcaps ringed in Utsira on the Norwegian west coast, and ending up to the British Isles, might be of Central European origin.

show abstract

Wintering Range of the Blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla) in Europe - Stabilized or Changing?

Cited by 5 publications

References 7 publications

The Fortunes of Migratory Birds from Eurasia: Being on a Tightrope in the Sahel

The Fortunes of Migratory Birds from Eurasia: Being on a Tightrope in the Sahel

Bioclimatic constraints of European mistletoe Viscum album at its southern distribution limit at past and present temporal scales, Pannonian Basin, Hungary

The origin of Blackcaps Sylvia atricapilla wintering on the British Isles

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About