Individuality in northern lapwing migration and its link to timing of breeding

We tracked eight adult northern lapwings, Vanellus vanellus, (six females and two males) from a Dutch breeding colony by light-level geolocation year-round, three of them for multiple years. We show that birds breeding virtually next to each other may choose widely separated wintering grounds, stretching from nearby the colony west towards the UK and Ireland, and southwest through France into Iberia and Morocco. However, individual lapwings appeared relatively faithful to a chosen wintering area, and timing of outward and homeward migration can be highly consistent between years. Movements of migratory individuals were usually direct and fast, with some birds covering distances of approximately 2000 km within 2 to 4 days of travel. The two males wintered closest and returned earliest to the breeding colony. The female lapwings returned well before the onset of breeding, spending a pre-laying period of 19 to 54 days in the wider breeding area. Despite the potential for high migration spe...本研究对来自荷兰繁殖种群的8只成年北凤头麦鸡（Vanellus vanellus，6雌2雄）进行了全年的光级地理定位（light-level geolocation）追踪，其中3只个体被追踪了多个年度。研究结果显示，繁殖地几乎比邻的个体，其越冬栖息地却可能相距甚远，越冬范围从繁殖地西侧延伸至英国与爱尔兰，或往西南经法国进入伊比利亚半岛与摩洛哥。不过，个体北凤头麦鸡会相对忠实于选定的越冬区域，且往返迁徙的时间在不同年度间可保持高度一致性。迁徙个体的移动通常直接且迅捷，部分个体可在2至4天内完成约2000公里的飞行距离。两只雄性个体的越冬地距离繁殖群最近，且返回繁殖群的时间也最早。雌性北凤头麦鸡会在繁殖季开始前返回，在更广的繁殖栖息区域内度过19至54天的产卵前期。尽管存在高迁徙……