Eurasian Wigeon (Anas penelope) movements

This species has a large breeding area covering northern latitudes in the Palearctic, from Iceland in the west to the Bering Strait in the east. With the exception of some small populations in western Europe, most populations are highly migratory with wintering areas from Europe in the west to southern Asia and Japan in the east. Only small numbers are found south of the Sahara desert during winter, mostly in the East African Rift Valley.

The majority of the recovered Eurasian Wigeon have been ringed in western Europe (Britain and The Netherlands), which is one out of the five main wintering areas for the Eurasian Wigeon. Large Figure 1: Map depicting the movements of numbers are found in west Europe during the Eurasian Wigeon (Anas penelope) based on published information and ring winter months (December-March), but recoveries recoveries in the EURING Data Bank. are also reported in south Europe and eastwards to the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. The most intense phases of return migration through southern Russia occur in April. During the breeding season (May-June) Eurasian Wigeon recoveries are reported from west Europe, Iceland, Scandinavia and Russia. Concentrations of recoveries during the breeding season are found east of the Urals along the river Ob and only a few recoveries are reported east of 90°E. Autumn migration continues until October and seems to follow a more northerly route than during spring migration. The return migration route seems to be more direct across central Europe. Recoveries in southern Russia and in Kazakhstan in autumn might be a result of moult migration of males and non-breeders. Birds breeding in Siberia are known to winter at the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea coasts, as well as in the Mediterranean area. Birds wintering in west Europe continue further south during severe winters.

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 Eurasian Wigeon (Anas Penelope) from the literature based on published information and ring recoveries in the EURING Data Bank.

Eurasian Wigeon Anas penelope

Distribution: Europe and Asia, between 50°N and 70°N; small numbers West and East Africa and Arabian Peninsula. Five main wintering groups: NW-Europe (1,250,000), Black Sea and Mediterranean Basin (560,000), between. SW-Asia and NE Africa (250,000), South Asia (250,000), Eastern Asia (100,000-1,000,000)

Moult migration: Males (late May-July) and non breeders moult in southern west Siberia, Russia, Volga Delta, Urals, upper Pechora, Estonia, S-Sweden, Denmark and Iceland; females (late June - early September)

Population Autumn Migration Wintering / Non-breeding Grounds Spring Migration References (or part of population)

direction / via during location during direction / via during Iceland birds wintering in Ireland, August North America, Great Britain (mainly Oct-Nov mid March- 1, 3, 8, 12 France and Iberia probably via western areas), France, Scotland, Ireland, April Britain Italy

Northwest Europe in severe winters birds from dramatic increases during cold winters in spring migration probably 3, 5,8, 10 NW-Europe probably mix with Iberia, increases in East and West Britain more southerly than that birds wintering in the and Ireland, north and west France of autumn, more direct Mediterranean Basin across Central Europe. Pair formation takes place in winter and males often follow females to her breeding grounds British islands, Great Britain, Ireland mainly sedentary with some Sep Netherlands, SW-France Oct + Nov 1, 3, 5, 8 dispersion

Germany, Netherlands, Belgium Denmark, coasts of France, Belgium, Nov-Feb Mar-Apr 5, 7 Netherlands, Germany, Northern Italy; Great Britain N-Poland (rare) W and SW Denmark and Mid Europe 5

Fennoscandia and Russia via Sweden, Denmark Sep-Oct N-, W- and SW-Europe, particularly 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, western Germany, Poland, Netherlands, 10, 12 Great Britain/Ireland, France, Spain, Denmark, Latvia, Hungary, Ukraine, Italy, NW-Africa, Kandalaksha Gulf (NE-Russia) Southwest Great Britain, Ireland, France, Belgium, 10 Germany, Denmark, S-Sweden, N-Italy, Norway Norway Sep-Oct Important wintering sites in Great Britain, Nov-Mar Apr-May 3, 9 Ireland; Sweden, Netherlands, Belgium, France Sweden Great Britain, Denmark, S-Sweden Nov-Feb 4, 8, 10 Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Russia, France, Spain, Belgium, Netherlands, Nov-Feb 1, 5, 7, 10, Siberia Germany Great Britain, Sweden, Italy 12

West and Central Siberia moulting in Volga Delta Caspian Sea, Black Sea, Turkey, Greece, northwest Europe 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, northern Italy, southern France, 9,10 Mediterranean Basin westwards so southern Spain, North-Africa, some East Africa (up to Tanzania), Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, India

Siberian Plain, Southern Siberia via Lake Aral, Kasakhstan Southwest Asia, Turkmenistan, South 8, 9, 10 Caspian Sea, Uzbekistan

North-Eastern, Central Siberia moult in N-Kazakhstan Caspian, Black Sea 10 Eastern Siberia Western Siberia 5

Unknown breeding ground West Africa (Senegal, Niger, Chad) 1, 4, 5, 6, 7,

Moulting birds from Volga Delta Western North Sea, Mediterranean, 7 Black/Caspian Sea

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 Bird 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 Anatidae. 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. Anseriformes, Dabbling ducks. 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 Duck 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 - 93 SV - 46

NO - 3

DK - 228

LV - 1 NL – 2,700

GB – 2,440 LI - 1

ER - 53 PL - 2

BL - 85 DE - 4 FR - 14 HG - 1 HE - 34

IA - 78 ES - 7

PO - 6

Figure 2. Country of ringing and numbers of recoveries of birds featured in maps of finding locations - Eurasian Wigeon (Anas Penelope).