Diet analysis and the assessment of plastic and other indigestible anthropogenic litter in the white stork pellets.

Pollution by anthropogenic litter is a major threat to global ecosystems. Seabirds are frequently used as environmental monitors of litter ingestion, but similar research is rare for terrestrial birds. Here, we focused on pellet analysis from 117 nests of an iconic bird of the Western Palearctic, the white stork (Ciconia ciconia), breeding in southern and southwestern Poland in a farmland landscape, far away from large dumps and landfills.

Does the sex and age of birds and the size of human settlements affect recapturing of the Great Tit (Parus major) at bird feeders?

Urban and rural habitats provide different conditions to wintering birds mainly due to different access to bird feeders. Returning to the food sources, even under the stress related to trapping, could play an important role in the energetic budget of wintering birds. We studied the duration of period between the first and the second capture of the Great Tits (Parus major) caught and ringed at bird feeders.

Survival during the Breeding Season: Nest Stage, Parental Sex, and Season Advancement Affect Reed Warbler Survival.

Avian annual survival has received much attention, yet little is known about seasonal patterns in survival, especially of migratory passerines. In order to evaluate survival rates and timing of mortality within the breeding season of adult reed warblers (Acrocephalus scirpaceus), mark-recapture data were collected in southwest Poland, between 2006 and 2012. A total of 612 individuals (304 females and 308 males) were monitored throughout the entire breeding season, and their capture-recapture histories were used to model survival rates.

Coping with shifting nest predation refuges by European reed Warblers Acrocephalus scirpaceus.

Predation, the most important source of nest mortality in altricial birds, has been a subject of numerous studies during past decades. However, the temporal dynamics between changing predation pressures and parental responses remain poorly understood. We analysed characteristics of 524 nests of European reed warblers monitored during six consecutive breeding seasons in the same area, and found some support for the shifting nest predation refuge hypothesis.