Migration of Mallards Anas platyrhynchos in Hungary: migration phenology, the origin of migrants, and long-term changes

摘要

Hungarian wetlands are internationally important staging and wintering places for many Eurasian waterfowl.However, published data on migration are scarce or completely lacking for the majority of waterfowlspecies from the region. In this study we investigated the migration phenology and the origin of MallardAnas platyrhynchos populations during the non-breeding season in Hungary. A large-scale monitoringstudy conducted on Lake Balaton and Kis-Balaton between 2003 and 2007 showed that population sizesfluctuated seasonally and peaked during winter months (December–January), with around 10,000 birdsstaying in some years on Lake Balaton. Using both Hungarian ringing data and recoveries of 14 otherEuropean countries we found that Mallards migrated to Hungarian wetlands most frequently from breedingpopulations in Russia, Lithuania and Poland. Recoveries of birds coming from northern and western Europeancountries were rare, suggesting limited movements between these and central European populations.Finally, Mallards now tend to migrate to Hungarian wetlands from shorter distances away than in earlieryears and the direction of their migration has also changed significantly, which may indicate changes inthe geographical location of source populations.