Breeding and natal dispersal of whinchats saxicola rubetra

Abstract

An examination was made of 521 ringing recoveries of Whinchats. Site fidelity (birds returning to within 1 km of the ringing locality), territory fidelity (returning to within 150 m of the ringing locality) and dispersal distances were calculated for adult males and females and for one‐year old birds of both sexes. One‐year olds were found to be much less faithful to their birth place than older birds were to their breeding place. Territory fidelity is most pronounced in old males, followed by old females and finally by one year old birds, which returned to their natal area. The same pattern was found for dispersal distances. © 1992 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.