In winter 2004/2005, 1532 Water Pipits were recorded during 37 censuses carried out along an established route on a sewage farm flooded with wastewater (Wrocław, SW Poland). Single birds were seen in nearly 39% of all 299 encounters, while the largest concentrations, between 16–28 individuals, accounted for 9%. 78% of all birds were observed on meadows flooded with communal wastewater. The remaining ones stayed around irrigation ditches (n = 172, 11.5%), sedimentation basins (n = 88, 5.9%) and reedbeds (n = 72, 4.8%). The mean size of the Water Pipit concentration was largest on the meadows (mean ± SE = 6.54 ± 0.50 individuals) and smallest at the sedimentation basins (mean = 1.44 ± 0.14). In this winter season (December-first half of March), rainfall enlarged numbers of birds to forage on the meadows, and the thickness of the snow cover was positively correlated with bird abundance at the sedimentation basins. The dominant available prey items inhabiting the warm wastewater were Diptera larvae (96%), 88% of which belonged to the genus Eristalis. The mean (± SD) invertebrate biomass was highest in the basin sediments (1.03 ± 1.14 g/dm3 of deposits), and lowest on the flooded meadows (0.20 ± 0.37 g/dm3 of deposits). The results point to the significance of the artificial environmental conditions created by warm sewage water, which enable the birds to remain largely independent of the weather and thus to overwinter in a cold region of central Europe.
How to translate text using browser tools
1 July 2006
Habitat Selection and Winter Food Resources of the Water Pipit Anthus spinoletta in South-Western Poland
Grzegorz Orłowski
P. W. Atkinson
,
R. J. Fuller
,
J. A. Vickery
,
G. J. Conway
,
J. R. Tallowin
,
R. Smith
,
K. Hayson
,
T. Ings
,
E. Asteraki
,
V. Brown
2005. Influence of agricultural management, sward structure and food resources on grassland field use by birds in Lowland England. J. Appl. Ecol. 42: 932–942. Google Scholar
P. A. Brodman
,
H. Reyer
1999. Nestling provisioning in water pipits (Anthus spinoletta): do parents go for specific nutrients or profitable prey? Oecologia 120: 506–514. Google Scholar
S. Bures
1994. Segregation of diet in water pipit (Anthus spinoletta) and meadow pipit (Anthus pratensis) nestlings in an area damaged by air pollution. Folia Zool. 46: 43–48. Google Scholar
S. Cramp
(ed.).
1998. The Complete Birds of the Western Palearctic on CD-ROM. Oxford Univ. Press. Google Scholar
J. Dierschke
,
F. Bairlein
2004. Habitat selection of wintering passerines in salt marshes of the German Wadden Sea. J. Ornithol. 145: 48–58. Google Scholar
O. Duriez
,
Y. Ferrand
,
F. Binet
,
E. Corda
,
F. Gossmann
,
H. Fritz
2005. Habitat selection of the Eurasian woodcock in winter in relation to earthworms availability. Biol. Conserv. 122: 479–490. Google Scholar
I. G. Johnson
1970. The water pipit as a winter visitor to the British Isles. Bird Study 17: 297–319. Google Scholar
M. A. Learner
2000. Egression of flies from sewage filter-beds. Wat. Res. 34: 877–889. Google Scholar
M. A. Learner
,
H. A. Chawner
1998. Macro-invertebrate associations in sewage filter-beds and their relationship to operational practice. J. Appl. Ecol. 35: 720–734. Google Scholar
Z. Lewartowski
,
I. Odrzykowski
,
W. Walankiewicz
,
A. Winiecki
1988. [Occurrence of water pipit in Great Poland and Lubuska Land in seasons 1970/71-1978/79]. Notatki Ornitol. 29: 123–133. Google Scholar
J. Lontkowski
1989. [Passerines of north-west part of Wrocław (including quantitative studies with mapping method)]. Ptaki Śląska 7: 40–81. Google Scholar
G. Orłowski
2005. [Wintering of waterbirds and waders on Wrocław sewage farm in 2004/2005]. Ptaki Śląska 16: 120–123. Google Scholar
G. Orłowski
2006. Cropland use by birds wintering in arable landscape in south-western Poland. Agr. Ecos. Environ. 116: 273–279 Google Scholar
M. Słychan
1996. [Birds of the sewage farm in Wrocław]. Ptaki Śląska 11: 133–150. Google Scholar
L. Tomiałojć,
T. Stawarczyk
2003. [The avifauna of Poland. Distribution, numbers and trends]. PTPP “pro Natura”. Wrocław. 870 pp. Google Scholar
G. M. Tucker
1992. Effects of agricultural practices on field use by invertebrate-feeding birds in winter. J. Appl. Ecol. 29: 779–790. Google Scholar
M. van der Berg
1975. [Behaviour and identification of the Water Pipit at its roosting-place]. Limosa 48: 158–162. Google Scholar
J. A. Vickery
,
J. R. Tallowin
,
R. E. Feber
,
E. J. Asteraki
,
P. W. Atkinson
,
R. J. Fuller
,
V. K. Brown
2001. The management of lowland neutral grasslands in Britain: effects of agricultural practices on birds and their food resources. J. Appl. Ecol. 38: 647–664. Google Scholar
A. Winiecki
2000.
Anthus spinoletta (L., 1758) -Water Pipit. In:
J. Bednorz
,
M. Kupczyk
,
S. Kuźniak
,
A. Winiecki
Birds of Great Poland. Monograph on Fauna. Bogucki Wyd. Naukowe. Poznań, pp. 369–370. Google Scholar
K. Witt
1982. [The Water Pipit (Anthus sp. spinoletta) as a visitor to the northern part of central Europe]. Vogelvelt 103: 90–111. Google Scholar
K. Witt
1984. [Seasonal variation of activity patterns in the Water Pipit (Anthus sp. spinoletta) in a wintering area]. J. Ornithol. 125: 465–471. Google Scholar

Acta Ornithologica
Vol. 41 • No. 1
July 2006
Vol. 41 • No. 1
July 2006
Anthus spinoletta
Dipteran larveae
Eristalis sp.
flocking behaviour
sewage deposits
Water Pipit
weather conditions