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Résumé :
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The Water Rail breeding population at the Tay Reedbeds, eastern Scotland, is partially migratory. To investigate the migratory and breeding behaviours of Water Rails in Scotland’s Tay Reedbeds. Light-level geolocators were used to estimate migration timing, identify non-breeding locations and infer breeding behaviour of nine individuals from ten recovered geolocators over a six-year period. Five breeding birds remained resident year-round, two migrated to Ireland for the winter (including one individual tagged in two years that migrated in both), and two additional birds arrived from north-east Europe to winter in the Tay Reedbeds. Based on incubation periods of ≥19 days as an indicator of success, ten of 15 incubation attempts (67%) were successful. Among the ten bird-years (n = nine individuals, with one bird monitored across two years), 50% of breeding birds were single-brooded, 10% were double-brooded, 20% made a second breeding attempt after a failure, 10% made two failed attempts before a successful one, and 10% made a single unsuccessful attempt. The results indicate that the breeding population of Water Rails in Britain, previously considered resident, is partially migratory. Light-level geolocators can provide valuable insights into breeding ecology, particularly for species where direct observation is challenging.
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