Volume 46• Number 3 • 2005
133 Breeding season, clutch size and reproductive success of the Great Spotted
Woodpecker Dendrocopos major in Poland - an analysis of nest cards.
Grzegorz Hebda, Mirosława Szewczyk
Abstract: The analysis covered 530 nest cards from the period 1970-2003, collected in different regions of Poland . The greatest portion of information came from different types of forest (85.5%). Most pairs were recorded to commence breeding at the end of April and in early May, the mean for all years falling on 2nd May. No differences were found in the first egg-laying dates as related to the habitat type but significant discrepancies between particular breeding seasons. For 1980-2003 a tendency for earlier brood commencement was revealed; recently the woodpeckers start breeding about 5 days earlier than they did at the beginning of the 1980s. The woodpeckers most frequently laid 5-6 eggs (modal value 5), and lost more than one nestling. The breeding success equalled 90.5% and 82.4% as calculated by the classical and Mayfield's method respectively. The most common reasons behind brood loss was nest abandonment or predation by mustelids. There was only one record of mixed brood - with the Syrian Woodpecker Dendrocopos syriacus. The majority of information issuing from the nest cards agrees with pertinent data for Poland and Europe . It should be taken into consideration that data contained in the cards include errors which can be reflected in some breeding parameters such as the length of breeding season or extent of brood losses.
143 Moulting of the Hawk Owl Surnia ulula in the Poznań zoological garden.
Marian Cieślak, Zbigniew Kwieciński
Abstract: Under normal exposure in the zoological garden of Poznań a pair of 3rd-calendar-year Hawk Owls attempted breeding: the first brood was unsuccessful and the second abandoned. The aviary was under everyday control, and the identification of the feathers found enabled to reconstruct the process of exchange of remiges and rectrices in both birds (Tables 3 and 4). The male exchanged all feathers and his moulting was highly symmetrical and very rapid, especially the first phase of the process. The female exchanged all feathers except s6 (in the previous season she had not exchanged the seven secondaries), and her moulting was less symmetrical and slower initially but later very fast. The loss of the first brood and the second breeding attempt had a great influence on the course of moulting in the female. In both birds new feathers grew at a pace of ca 5 mm per day. At a comparable moulting sequence, the moulting process of the studied pair was earlier (due to geographic conditions) than in free living birds and more complete, the latter probably owing to a better diet, as feeding can strongly affect the moulting.
Report No 21
157 Rare birds recorded in Poland in 2004.
Komisja Faunistyczna
Summary: This report includes 323 accepted records from 2004, as well as 37 earlier ones, concerning 91 species and subspecies. One subspecies has been recorded for the first time in Poland , namely the Greenland White-fronted Goose Anser albifrons flavirostris. Highlights of the year were: the second Roseate Tern Sterna dougallii, the fifth Isabelline Shrike Lanius isabellinus and White-tailed Plover Vanellus leucurus (from 1997), as well as the first record of the Storm Pertrel Hydrobates pelagicus after 29 years. Currently the national list contains 438 species.
Records of each species are first presented regionally in alphabetic order of the provinces, afterwards chronologically; they contain: date, number of individuals, sex and age (if known), documentation if present (photo, phono, video, specimen, etc.), location, district, and in brackets names up to three observers, further brief comments and references in some cases. The number codes following the species name mean: the first one - number of records slash number of individuals till 2003 inclusive, the second one - number of records slash number of individuals in 2004; "ca" means approximate number of records or individuals, "n" instead of a number - unknown number of those. The report includes an appendix (Aneks) containing not accepted records, and a list of revisions, i.e. reconsidered records.
Notes
179 Occurrence of Lari in the Przygodzice Fishponds region.
Robert Kaczmarek, Waldemar Blaźniak, Mateusz Matysiak
Summary: On the Przygodzice Fishponds 18 species of Lari have been recorded, 3 of which were found nesting, 15 as migrants or visitors. In the case of the Black Tern Chlidonias niger the local breeding numbers were exceptional for Poland ; in some years the abundance of this species could have reached even a few per cent of the Polish population, and in 1995-1996 it ranked among the highest in Silesia . The noteworthy reports include the regionally numerous observations of the Mediterranean Gull Larus melanocephalus and Lesser Black-backed Gull L. fuscus, those of the Great Black-backed Gull L. marinus, which are rare in the interior, and also the unusual records of the Sabine's Gull L. sabini and Great Black-headed Gull L. ichthyaetus. Until recently the Przygodzice Fishponds have been of great importance to gulls and terns when on migration and also a site of one of the highest concentrations of these birds both in Silesia and in Poland . The concentrations of the White-winged Black Tern Ch. leucopterus during the invasion of 1997 were the most massive in the country. The Przygodzice Fishponds is a region where phenologically early and late for Poland dates of encounter have been noted. The fishing ponds belong to sites preferred by breeding Lari, but the intensive fish rearing will bring about many factors harmful to the habitat of these birds. At present, in spite of having been taken under legal protection within the Barycz River Valley Landscape Park , the Przygodzice Fishponds are devoid of effective conservation measures
187 Occurrence of the Water Pipit Anthus spinoletta in the Beskid Wyspowy Mts.
Łukasz Kajtoch, Agata Piestrzyńska-Kajtoch
Summary: The distribution and numbers of the Water Pipit were censused in 2004 and 2005 in the Beskid Wyspowy Mts (Carpathian Mts). The occurrence of the species was ascertained in six breeding sites situated only on mountain clearings which all were 900 m a.s.l. The number of pairs was estimated at about 16-20 pairs and density was 1.6-2.0 pairs/10ha. Water Pipits preferred south-exposed clearings. Breeding sites of this species are endangered due to discontinuation of pasturage and succession of clearings.
189 Nesting of the House Martin Delichon urbicum inside buildings in Wielkopolska.
Przemysław Wylegała, Sylwia Wylegała, Paweł Śliwa
Summary: Nesting of House Martins inside buildings has been noted in Poland for at least 30 years, and it is probably most common in the region of Wielkopolska. The fact that this phenomenon is widespread can be associated with creation of state-owned farms in the 1960s and 1970s, when large farm buildings were constructed with wide gates which enabled birds to fly inside. Locally, one of the reasons behind change in nest location in this species can also be strong nest parasitism by House Sparrows Passer domesticus, which less frequently take over the House Martin nests inside buildings. The paper reports on 36 House Martin colonies localized inside buildings, where ca 1750 pairs nested. In 2004-2005 this type of nesting was observed in as many as 17 out of 25 (68%) large farms checked in the environs of Poznań . The number of occupied nests in a colony ranged between 2 and 320 (x=50.4, Mmed=28, SD=60.9). The most commonly occupied buildings were cowhouses (88.9%), less frequently sheep sheds, stables and piggeries.
194 Stress-originated growth bars on primaries in the Hawk Owl Surnia ulula.
Marian Cieślak, Zbigniew Kwieciński
Summary: In the seasons 2004 and 2005 monitoring of the moulting in a pair of the Hawk Owl Surnia ulula bred in the Poznań zoo was conducted (Cieślak & Kwieciński 2005). On the primaries moulted in the 2005 season growth bars were observed whose distribution was clearly related to the brood loss and repeated egg-laying in the season of 2004. Different character of stress seems to be responsible for differing types of the growth bar.
199 Mystery bird 40: Blyth 's Reed Warbler Acrocephalus dumetorum.
Jan Lontkowski |
