Data from: 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 speeds, the duration that birds were absent from the breeding area increased with distance to wintering areas, a pattern which was mainly driven by an earlier outward migration of birds heading for more distant wintering grounds. Moreover, females that overwintered closer to colony bred earlier. A large variation in migration strategies found even within a single breeding colony has likely supported the species’ responsiveness to recent climate change as evidenced by a shortened migration distance and an advanced timing of reproduction in Dutch lapwings since the middle of the 20th century.

我们通过全年光照级地理定位（light-level geolocation）技术，对来自荷兰繁殖种群的8只成年凤头麦鸡（northern lapwing, Vanellus vanellus，其中6雌2雄）开展了追踪研究，其中3只个体被连续追踪了多个年度。研究结果表明，即便繁殖位置近乎相邻的个体，也可能选择相距甚远的越冬地：这些越冬地从繁殖种群周边向西延伸至英国与爱尔兰，或向西南方向经法国进入伊比利亚半岛与摩洛哥。不过，单只凤头麦鸡会相对固定地偏好某一选定的越冬区域，且其迁出与回迁的时间在不同年度间高度一致。迁徙个体的飞行路径通常直接且速度迅捷，部分个体可在2至4天内完成约2000公里的飞行。两只雄性个体的越冬地最靠近繁殖种群，且回迁至繁殖地的时间最早。雌性凤头麦鸡会在繁殖启动前许久返回，并在更广范围的繁殖区域内度过19至54天的产卵前期。尽管凤头麦鸡具备较高的迁徙速度潜力，但它们离开繁殖地的总时长会随越冬地距离的增加而延长，这一模式主要由前往更远越冬地的个体更早启动迁出迁徙所驱动。此外，越冬地更靠近繁殖种群的雌性个体，其繁殖时间也更早。即便在单个繁殖种群内部，迁徙策略也存在显著差异，这一特征或许助力该物种对近期气候变化做出响应——自20世纪中期以来，荷兰凤头麦鸡的迁徙距离缩短、繁殖时间提前，这便是该物种响应气候变化的有力佐证。