Hans Joachim Fünfstück

Long-distance migrant passerine breeding in mires of flooded plains in C and E Europe. There has been a steep decline in recent decades due to habitat destruction. Most remaining populations are in Poland and Belarus, with some in Lithuania and Russia and a relict population in Pomerania, Germany. Winters in flooded Sahelian grasslands in W Africa, S Mauritania, Senegal and Mali (Salewski et al. 2009, Poluda et al. 2012).

Season of assessment

B

Population trendDecreasing
Population size
(min-max, best estimate)		18300-28500,22700
Red List categoryVU
Franks, S., Fiedler, W., Arizaga, J., Jiguet, F., Nikolov, B., van der Jeugd, Ambrosini, R, Aizpurua, O., Bairlein, F., Clark, J., Fattorini, N, Hammond, M., Higgins, D, Levering, H., Skellorn, W., Spina, F, Thorup, K. Walker, J., Woodward, I. and Baillie, S.R. (1) (2022) Online Atlas of the movements of European bird populations. https://migrationatlas.org EURING/CMS (1) Principal investigator
Map

Overall Connectivity for Aquatic Warbler

Migrates W in autumn from the breeding grounds, with the whole population then more or less following the NW coasts of Europe to France (Julliard et al. 2006, Jiguet et al. 2011), then traversing Iberia to reach Atlantic W Africa. Data-loggers show that adults from Lithuania and Belarus move inland later in winter, e.g. to Mali (Salewski et al. 2013, Tanneberger & Kubacka 2018). Spring migration is more direct - from W Africa to the breeding grounds above the W Mediterranean basin.

Recoveries by Condition for Aquatic Warbler

The majority of recoveries are of first-year birds ringed on autumn migration and later recaptured on migration, with few on breeding sites. Very few (<1%) Aquatic Warblers have been found dead. Winter recoveries in Senegal in Dec-Feb are a largely a result of a concentrated effort to study the species in the Djoudj National park in the 2000s. Recent effort to ring migrants in the W and SW has also increased the numbers of recoveries. Further developments in tracking might provide new insights for this poorly known species in the future.

Annual Movements for Aquatic Warbler

The first migrants recorded in W Europe in autumn include a higher proportion of adults than later in the year, illustrating the earlier migration of experienced individuals. There is no detailed information to compare the movements of breeding populations from C and E Europe, although adult males breeding in Lithuania and Belarus have been tracked with light loggers (Martin Flade & AWCT pers. com.).

Connectivity by Month by Region for Aquatic Warbler

Autumn migration in W and SW Europe starts during the last dekad of Jul, peaking mid-Aug, althought there are some late records of migrants in mid-Sep, including adults with heavily worn plumage. Spring encounters are along the Mediterranean coasts of Spain, France and Italy during Apr, reaching the breeding grounds in May. From adults tracked with light loggers, they cross the Sahara mid-Aug-mid-Sept in autumn, and mostly in the first two dekads of March in spring (Adamik et al. 2016).

Frédéric Jiguet

References

Statistics Map
N records N individuals N recoveries
Mapped data*
Total available data
*Mapped data include only distant (>= 50 km) recoveries
References Map
Adamik P, Emmenegger T, Briedis M, Gustafsson L, Henshaw I, Krist M, Laaksonen T, Liechti F, Procházka P, Salewski V, Hahn S2016 . Barrier crossing in small avian migrants: individual tracking reveals prolonged nocturnal flights into the day as a common migratory strategy. Scientific Reports 6 article no.: 21560
Jiguet F, Chiron F, Dehorter O, Dugué H, Provost P, Musseau R, Guyot G, Latraube F, Fontanilles P, Séchet E, Laignel J, Gruwier X, Le Nevé A2011 . How many Aquatic Warblers Acrocephalus paludicola stop over in France during the autumn migration?. Acta Ornithologica 46: 135–142
Julliard R, Bargain B, Dubos A, Provost P, Jiguet F2006 . Identifying fall migration bottlenecks for the globally threatened aquatic warbler (Acrocephalus paludicola). Ibis 148: 735–743
Poluda A, Flade M, Foucher J, Kiljan G, Tegetmeyer C, Salewski V2012 . First confirmed connectivity between breeding sites and wintering areas of the globally threatened Aquatic Warbler Acrocephalus paludicola. Ringing & Migration
Salewski V, Bargain B, Diop I, Flade M2009 . Quest for a phantom — the search for the winter quarters of the aquatic warbler Acrocephalus paludicola. Bulletin of the African Bird Club 16: 61–66
Salewski W, Flade M, Poluda A, Kiljan G, Liechti F, Lisovski S, Hahn S2013 . An unknown migration route of the ‘globally threatened’ Aquatic Warbler revealed by geolocators. Journal of Ornithology 154 Link to Article (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-012-0912-5) : 549–552
Tanneberger F, Kubacka J (editors)2018 . The Aquatic Warbler Conservation Handbook. ISBN: 978-3-00-059256-0Brandenburg State Office for Environment (LfU), Postdam

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