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.

本研究采用光感地理定位（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，其中雌性6只、雄性2只）开展了全年追踪，其中3只个体被连续追踪了多个年度。研究结果表明，即便繁殖栖息地彼此紧邻的个体，也可能选择跨度极大的越冬地：其越冬范围西至繁殖地附近的英国与爱尔兰，西南经法国延伸至伊比利亚半岛及摩洛哥。不过，凤头麦鸡个体对其选定的越冬地表现出较高的忠诚度，且年度间南北迁徙的出发与返程时间均具有高度一致性。迁徙个体的飞行路径通常直接且高效，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种群最近，且其返程至繁殖地的时间也最早。雌性凤头麦鸡会在繁殖季正式开始前较长时间便返回繁殖地，并在更广域的繁殖区域内度过19至54天的产卵前期。尽管凤头麦鸡具备高速迁徙的潜力，但个体离开繁殖地的总时长会随越冬地距离的增加而延长，这一规律主要由前往更远越冬地的个体更早启动南迁所主导。此外，越冬地距离繁殖种群更近的雌性个体，其繁殖启动时间也更早。即便在同一个繁殖种群内，迁徙策略也存在显著差异，这一特征或助力该物种应对近期气候变化——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实证依据。