Chick survival in a high-density Northern Lapwing (Vanellus vanellus) population on the river islets of the middle Pripyat River, Belarus

Abstract

The field studies were conducted in three ephemeral river islets of the middle Pripyat River, southern Belarus in 2006–2007. Nestlings of the Northern Lapwing (Vanellus vanellus) were ringed soon after hatching, and reencountered during subsequent visits. Post-hatching survival was estimated by capture-mark-recapture models. Daily survival rates of the Northern Lapwing chicks were very high, varying between 0.90 and 0.99, and the cumulative survival rates over 35 days between hatching and fledging were 0.54 and 0.70 in 2006 and 2007, respectively. Survival rate was lower in the first ten days of life, which is similar to that reported in other precocial species. The key factor supporting this high breeding success is low predation due to nesting of lapwings on periodic river islets that naturally restrict access by mammalian predators and apparent scarcity of terrestrial and avian predators. River islet habitats with co-occurrence of dry and wet fertile microhabitats provide optimum feeding conditions for the Lapwing chicks with a wide range of aquatic, ground and surface invertebrates. Moreover, semicolonial breeding of the Northern Lapwing (about 30 nests/ha) with other waders, terns and gulls increases the effectiveness of anti-predator behaviour. Consequently as a result of low predation pressure and good foraging conditions, in 2006 and 2007, productivity was 2.1 and 2.8 fledged young per single nest with four chicks respectively, a value hardly reported in Europe, except in managed sites.