Limited food availability could be a cause for the strong decline of the small and isolated Aquatic Warbler population in Pomerania (NE Germany/NW Poland). In this paper, we describe nesting site conditions, nest placement and female foraging behaviour as well as food supply in vegetation types prevailing in Pomeranian breeding areas. Female Aquatic Warblers in Pomerania appeared to select ‘managed’ sites (where land use maintains suitable conditions for Aquatic Warbler) for nesting, and preferred vertical structures (ditches and edges within ‘managed’ sites) for foraging. They flew longer distances for provisioning their nestlings than in the core population (E Poland, Belarus) whereas the total distance travelled per 30 minutes was similar. In ‘managed’ sites, the total invertebrate biomass was larger than in ‘unmanaged’ sites in early June when early broods are raised. Pomeranian Aquatic Warblers are able to exploit relatively rich food sources in ‘managed’ meadows and in vertical structures and may thus balance the higher efforts of flights longer than in Eastern Poland and Belarus. To increase the availability of suitable Aquatic Warbler nesting and foraging sites in Pomerania, management by mowing should be continued. It might yield the best results when providing a mosaic of ‘managed’ and ‘unmanaged’ patches.
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1 June 2013
Nesting and Foraging Characteristics of Aquatic Warblers Acrocephalus paludicola in the Fast Declining Pomeranian Population (NE Germany/ NW Poland)
Franziska Tanneberger,
Jochen Bellebaum,
Angela Helmecke,
Marharita Minets
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Acta Ornithologica
Vol. 48 • No. 1
January 2013
Vol. 48 • No. 1
January 2013
food supply
foraging preferences
habitat management
nesting site conditions