No seasonal curtailment of the Eurasian Skylark’s (Alauda arvensis) breeding season in German heterogeneous farmland

The lack of suitable nesting sites is one key driver behind the farmland bird crisis in Europe. Winter cereals become impenetrable for ground-breeding birds like the Eurasian Skylark (Alauda arvensis), curtailing breeding time. Stable Skylark populations depend on multiple breeding attempts per year; thus, the widespread cultivation of winter cereals has strongly contributed to their tremendous decline. Crop diversification is thought to be a potential measure to counteract this development. Therefore, we explored how individual Skylarks respond to the decreasing suitability of winter cereals as nesting habitat in heterogeneous but otherwise conventionally managed farmland. Our study focused on: i) the degree to which Skylarks prematurely cease nesting activity, switch nesting habitats, or breed on linear structures like tramlines. Additionally, we analyzed: ii) if nest success decreases throughout the breeding season and iii) how often Skylarks make a successful breeding attempt per ye...