Arkadiusz Sikora
Ornis Polonica 2015, 56: 32–43
https://doi.org/10.12657/ornis.2015.1.2
Abstract: In winter 2013/2014 in the Vistula Valley near Gniew in Pomerania a total of 280 Eurasian Curlews Numenius arquata were present. During the same period in the whole country a total of about 510 individuals were recorded, which probably was related to an extremely warm December of 2013. Birds spent the day in the fields and green areas, and nights at sandbanks and shallows in the river valley. Numbers recorded near Gniew during the day and flight to the roosting sites were significantly different. On days without snow cover and temperatures above zero foraging birds constituted 77%, resting ones 16%, and the remaining 7% were busy with other activities (bathing, vigilance). When temperatures dropped below zero the majority of birds rested in the morning and foraged in the afternoon. Most birds foraged in meadows and pastures (55%), winter crops (26%) and rape fields (17%), as well as cut corn and ploughed fields. During warmer periods 47% of Curlews were found feeding in green areas, while after cooling 94% of birds were observed foraging in meadows and pastures. Some wintering birds had features typical of orientalis subspecies, 43% of individuals (N=30) had pure white axillaries, and 40% with single dark spots. Additionally 87% individuals had dark primaries (1 – 5), without any pattern but with notches, as in arquata subspecies. However, lack of signs of moult of primaries from mid November till end of December excludes the possibility that the birds represented subspecies orientalis.
Keywords: daily activity, Eurasian Curlew, habitat, Numenius arquata, subspecies, wintering
