Trap response of Wood Sandpipers Tringa glareola

Abstract

We used sightings and recaptures of colour-marked Wood Sandpipers to examine the trap response of this locally abundant migrant in north-east Austria. Birds were caught in selected wastewater pools of the local sugar factory using walk-in traps. According to resightings and recaptures, most birds apparently left the initial trapping site soon after capture. Since the majority of birds moved to another trapping pool instead of any of the non-trapping pools, our findings suggest that the mere presence of traps does not affect the choice of feeding site of previously captured Wood Sandpipers. However, that birds avoided sites of initial capture indicates that results of studies (e.g. on habitat quality) which involve trapping of birds should be viewed with caution.