Habitat use and foraging parameters of breeding Skylarks indicate no seasonal decrease in food availability in...

Area of Science:

• Ornithology
• Ecology
• Conservation Biology

Background:

• Reduced food availability during chick-rearing is a major factor in farmland bird declines.
• Eurasian Skylark (Alauda arvensis) food availability depends on arthropod abundance, vegetation accessibility, and foraging site distance.
• Modern farmland vegetation is expected to become less penetrable, potentially decreasing food over the breeding season.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore foraging habitat selection in chick-rearing Eurasian Skylarks.
• To analyze seasonal dynamics of habitat use and food availability.
• To investigate habitat selection based on prey, vegetation, and distance, and track seasonal foraging parameters.

Main Methods:

• Data collected from 51 Eurasian Skylark nests in Central Europe (2018-2019).
• Foraging habitats and parameters (e.g., feeding frequency) recorded for chick-rearing pairs.
• Prey biomass/diversity and vegetation cover measured around 42 nests.

Main Results:

• Skylarks primarily selected foraging habitats based on proximity to nests.
• Habitat use varied seasonally and frequent habitats were not consistently ranked by importance.
• Feeding frequency increased throughout the breeding season, indicating rising food availability.

Conclusions:

• Contrary to expectations, food availability for Eurasian Skylarks appears to increase later in the breeding season.
• Heterogeneous farmland composition and synergistic habitat effects likely support Skylark foraging success.
• Maintaining crop diversity is crucial for Eurasian Skylark conservation and mitigating farmland bird declines.