Garganey (Anas querquedula) movements

This species breeds in Palearctic, from west Europe to eastern Asia mainly between 42oN and 65oN. It is highly migratory with main wintering areas across tropical Africa south of the Sahara, in India and in southern Asia. In Africa, it winters along a line of approximately 10-15°N from Senegal to Chad, with smaller numbers found in eastern Africa. Particular concentrations are found in the Senegal and Niger deltas.

Apart from a few sites in Russia, Garganey are localised and sparsely distributed in the breeding season and have been ringed only in small numbers in most countries in Europe. The largest numbers of Figure 1. Map depicting the movements of recoveries are from ringing carried out in Russia and Garganey (Anas querquedula) based on the Netherlands. Most of the recoveries during published information and ring recoveries in the EURING Data Bank. winter have been reported in southern Europe, in Italy and in the Balkan region. A smaller number of recoveries has also been reported from south of the Sahara, mainly in Senegal and Mali. The number of Garganey wintering in Europe is small and it is likely that the chance of receiving recoveries from those that stay in Europe is much higher than from those that migrate to south of the Sahara, hence the apparent mismatch in the number of recoveries versus numbers of wintering . Mediterranean crossing is evident from the increase in recoveries in Italy between January and February; this country, together with the Balkans and Greece, is involved in strong return movements in March and, to a lesser extent, in April, when no more recoveries are reported from the African winter quarters. The return migration continues into southern Russia and Kazakhstan in April and further north in May. Recoveries from the breeding season are spread out from west Europe to Siberia at about 90°E.

Autumn migration starts in August and some Garganey are still reported in Russia in October. Birds breeding in western and northern Europe use two main routes; they either pass the Iberian Peninsula or the central Mediterranean on their way to West Africa via Morocco or Algeria. Eastern European birds pass through the eastern Mediterranean to East Africa. Siberian birds also pass eastern Mediterranean and southwest Asia on their way to East Africa, reaching as far west as Chad, but some move also through eastern Iran to Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka. Return migration from both West and East Africa is concentrated in the central Mediterranean. This apparent loop migration is supported by the large number of recoveries reported in Italy between February and April.

From: Delany, S., Veen, J. & Clark, J.A. (eds) 2006. Urgent preliminary assessment of ornithological data relevant to the spread of Avian Influenza in Europe. Report to the European Commission. Study contract: 07010401/2005/425926/MAR/B4. Authors: Atkinson, P.W., Clark, J.A., Delany, S., Diagana, C.H., du Feu, C., Fiedler, W., Fransson, T., Gaulthier-Clerc, M., Grantham, M.J., Gschweng, M., Hagemeijer, W., Helmink, T., Johnson, A., Khomenko, S., Martakis, G., Overdijk, O., Robinson, R.A., Solokha, A., Spina, F., Sylla, S.I., Veen, J. & Visser, D. http://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/nature_conservation/focus_wild_birds/avian_influenza/index_en.htm

Table 1: Summary of the movements of Garganey (Anas querquedula) from the literature based on published information and ring recoveries in the EURING Data Bank.

Garganey Anas querquedula

Distribution: Palaearctic, across Europe and Asia, mostly between 42°N and 65°N. No biogeographical populations defined in Western Eurasia. Two main migration routes: one from Central Europe through the Mediterranean and one via Spain along Atlantic coast. In winter, two groups, one wintering in East Africa (through SW-Asia), and one in West Africa. Pair formation takes place in winter and males often follow females to her breeding grounds

Population Autumn Migration Wintering / Non-breeding Grounds Spring Migration References (or part of population) direction / via during location during direction / via during Western Siberia (a) through eastern Mediterranean, West/Central Africa as far as Chad 3, 8, 10, 11, 12 Italy, S/SW across Red Sea and off north Sinai

Western Siberia (b) SW-Asia, Eritrea, Ethiopia, some East Africa, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka 1, 3, 8, 11 through eastern Iran to Pakistan, India & Sri Lanka

Europe West of Urals via Spain and Italy, France July-Oct South of Sahara loop via central Mediterranean, Feb-Apr 1, 6, 7, 8, 12 migration former Yugoslavia, Greece

8

NE-Europe, Belgium, Denmark, Great S through Central Europe; SE via few stay in Great Britain, Netherlands, 1, 3, 5, 6, 7 Britain, Netherlands, France, W- Black Sea region across Sahara to Belgium, Germany, Hungary, Black Sea Germany West Africa region, Mediterranean region, to Morocco and Algeria. Most winter in West Africa Western Europe (France) as far as WSW, passage Sea of Azov, Senegal Delta, Mali 2, 7, 8, 12 Western Siberia (Tobol and Irtysh to Middle Ob, Netherlands, N-Italy, via Yenisey River Spain and Italy, Atlantic coast

Greece, Latvia, Poland, Russia, W, via Black Sea region, Israel, Nigeria 5, 8, 10 Kazakhstan, India massive autumn passage along north coast of Sinai, Egypt

Hungary E, through E-Mediterranean Egypt, as far as East Africa 1 References consulted in drawing up the movement summary tables. Number in tables indicate which reference was used in drawing up each line of data in the tables.

Number in Tables Reference 1 Bauer, H.G., Bezzel, E. & Fiedler, W. (eds.) 2005. Kompendium der Vögel Mitteleuropas. Aula- Verlag, Wiebelsheim. 2 Speek, B.J. & Speek, G. (1984). Thieme’s vogeltrekatlas. Thieme, Zutphen. 3 Wernham, C., Toms, M., Marchant, J., Clark, J., Siriwardena, G. & Baillie, S. (eds.) 2002. The Migration Atlas: movements of the birds of Britain and Ireland. T. & A.D. Poyser, London. 4 Fransson, T. & Pettersson, J. (2001): Svensk ringmärkningsatlas. Vol. 1. Stockholm. Including preliminary printouts for volume 2 (unpublished, 2006) 5 Bønløkke, J., Madsen, J.J., Thorup, K., Pedersen, K.T., Bjerrum, M. & Rahbek, C. in press. Dansk Trækfugleatlas. The Danish Migration Atlas (to be published spring 2006). Rhodos International Science & Art Publishers Ltd., Holtegaard, Humlebæk, Denmark. 6 Unpublished printout of recovery maps from the Helsinki Bird Ringing Scheme. 7 Roggeman, W., Huisseune, D., Vangeluwe, D., Vandenbulck, P. & Vandousselare, P. 1995. Belgian Ringing Scheme Databank. Gaviidae to . Studiedocumenten van het K.B.I.N., Brussels. 8 Scott, D.A. & Rose, P.M. 1996. Atlas of Anatidae Populations in Africa and Western Eurasia. Wetlands International Publication 41. 9 Bakken, V., Runde, O. & Tjørve, E. 2003. Norsk Ringmerkings Atlas. Lommer - Alkefugler. Ringmerkingssentralen, Stavanger Museum. 10 Bianki, V.V. & Dobrynina, I.N. 1997. , Dabbling . In: Pavlov, D.S. (series ed.): Migrations of Birds of eastern Europe and Northern Asia. Nauka, Moscow. 11 Veen J., Yurlov, A.K., Delany S.N., Mihantiev, A.I., Selivanova, M.A. & Boere, G.C. 2005. An atlas of movements of Southwest Siberian waterbirds. Wetlands International, Wageningen, The Netherlands. 12 Recovery maps from the Italian Bird Ringing Scheme 13 Czech Ringing project. URL: http://www.mujweb.cz/veda/aythya/menu/records.htm 14 McClure (1998): Migration and Survival of the Birds of Asia. White Lotus Press, Thailand. 15 Kishchinskii, A.A. (1978): Gaviiformes to Ciconiiformes. Migrations of birds of eastern Europe and Northern Asia. Nauka, Moscow. 16 Kishchinskii, A.A. (1982): Falconiformes to Gruiformes. Migrations of birds of eastern Europe and Northern Asia. Nauka, Moscow. 17 Svazasn S., W. Meissner, V, Serebryakov, A. Kozulin & G. Grishanov (2001): Changes of wintering sites of waterfowl in central and eastern Europe. OMPO, Vilnius.

SF - 8 SV - 19

DK - 39

LV - 149 NL - 799

GB - 73 LI - 3

PL - 14 BL - 109

DE - 22 FR - 4

HG - 2 HE - 10

IA - 138

Figure 2. Country of ringing and numbers of recoveries of birds featured in maps of finding locations - Garganey (Anas querquedula).