NUMBERS OF MEADOW PIPITS ANTHUS PRATENSIS ON MOUNTAIN FARM GRASSLAND IN NORTH WALES IN THE BREEDING SEASON

Abstract

SUMMARY On c. 15 ha of mountain farm grassland in Wales, during 1972‐75, adult Meadow Pipits were present during March–September (but scarce in August–September). Breeding occurred during late April to late July. Incubation was performed by the female but both sexes fed the nestlings. Adults showed an average annual mortality of 54%. Adults spent nearly all their time on the ground, but varied in their activities and use of the habitat according to the stage of breeding. Their unobtrusive behaviour had a marked effect on the ease with which they could be observed for a population count. Males were seen on 30% of the days for which they were assumed to be present and were recorded giving song‐displays on 28% of the days when they were actually seen. We conclude that, to count all the birds present on a site, most must be marked, sightings must be carefully mapped and the number of observer days must be at least 20, preferably in April‐May. The numbers of individually marked (and a few unmarked) birds were determined by mapping them on large‐scale aerial photographs. This gave an average annual density of 48 resident pairs per km2. The average home range was 2.18 ha; this value remained relatively constant from year to year. At low population density individual home ranges were separated from one another, and there was some unoccupied ground, but at high population density the ranges overlapped with one another.

Incubation behaviour of the Meadow Pipit (Anthus pratensis) in an alpine ecosystem of Central Europe

“…Hötker (1990) found the nest-attentiveness of the Meadow Pipit to be 68% in Melle (Germany). Seel and Walton (1979) observed a nestattentiveness of 67% in Wales and a mean session duration of 14.9 min (compared to 19.69 min in our study area). Davies (1958) is the only author who has shown nestattentiveness results similar to ours-in Sweden, he found nest-attentiveness to be 65-80% for the last 5 days before hatching, with a mean value of about 73%.…”

Territorial meadow pipit males (Anthus pratensis; Passeriformes) become more aggressive in female presence

“…During this period critical for determining the brood paternity, they mostly sing instead (Seel and Walton 1979; T. Petrusková, T. Brinke, S. Tomková, personal observation). As we did not observe any natural encounters between males despite the relatively high territory density at the studied localities, we presume that singing is efficient for deterring most potential intruders, as is the case in many other bird species (e.g.…”

“…Males and females do not differ in colouration-both are inconspicuous, brownish above and lighter below with dark streaks throughout. During the breeding season, it is possible to distinguish the two sexes by their behaviourmales defend territories by song-flights or singing from perches, whilst females mostly forage on the ground (Seel and Walton 1979;T. Petrusková, personal observation).…”

Selection of foraging habitat and nestling diet by Meadow PipitsAnthus pratensisbreeding on intensively grazed moorland

“…Seel & Walton (1979) found that Meadow Pipits increased their foraging range when collecting food for chicks. However, they did not investigate the factors influencing foraging site selection.…”