35

Migration pattern and seasonalactivity of at Draganic fishpondsin NW Croatia

Dragan Radovic, Jelena Kralj & VesnaTutis

Radovic,D., Kralj, J & Tutis, V. 1999. Migration patternand seasonalactivity of wadersat Draganicfishponds m NW Croatia. WaderStudy Group Bull. 90: 35-41.

The numberand seasonal activity of waderswere studiedat Draganicfishponds (NW Croatia)from August1991 to December1994. A total of 26 waderspecies were noted. Two ,Lapwing and Little RingedPlover, were breedingin smallnumbers and with a low successrate. The onlyregular wintering species was Green , but presentin smallnumbers. Lapwing and Ruff werethe most numerous species during spring migration, whereas WoodSandpiper, Common Snipe, Lapwing and Dunlin predominatedduring the autunmmigration. Migration patternsdiffered between years both in timingof migrationand number of . Thesedifferences were mostly a consequenceof the differenttiming andextent of the ponddrainage between years.

D. Radovic, J. Kralj & V. Tutis,Institute of Ornithology,Ilirski trg 9, 10000 Zagreb,Croatia

INTRODUCTION Croatiannatural have beendevastated, mainly by The migrationof wadersis poorlyknown m Croatia. In the canalizationand drainage, and are nowadaysvery scarce. availableliterature (reviewed in Kralj 1997), informationis Watercourseregulation has been partially or completely scattered,and in mostcases species are mentioned without carried out at most of the Croatian rivers (11,059 km of referenceto numbersand migration patterns. The only watercoursesare now regulated).A largeproportion of the exceptionis the work of Stipcevic(1997), in whichthe valleysnear the Sava and Drava rivers were once flooded,but numbersand pattern of springmigration of waderson the todayonly two largeflood-plains remain: Lonjsko polje and wetlandsof the islandof Pagin years1990 and 1991 are Kopacevskirit. So far, in Croatia,a total of 1,118,884ha have g•ven. This researchwas conductedon the Adriatic coast,but beendrained. As a consequence,man-made habitats, therehasn't been any similarstudy for the continentalpart of especiallyfishponds, have an increasingimportance for Croatia.As a result,migration patterns and stopover sites of migratorywaders. In thisarticle we presentthe resultsof a migrating wadersm Croatia have remainedunidentified. studyof thenumbers and seasonal activity of waders,which waspart of researchbeing carried on the complete omithofauna,conducted between 1991 and 1994at Draganic fishponds,NW Croatia.

STUDY AREA Draganicfishponds are carp ponds situated m the southwestof the Pokupskobasra near Karlovac (NW Croatia,Figure 1). In the Pokupskobasra there are four fishpondswith a totalarea of 1,400ha of openwater (Bolia: 1992). The Draganicfishponds Zagreb (395 ha) consistof fourmain compartments and a numberof smallponds. The wateris about130 cm deep. The shoresare completelycovered with vegetation(Reed Phragmites l•'agani6 australis,Cattail Typha sp., Sedge Carex sp. etc.), sothat a Sisak muddysurface (available for feedingof waders)appears only river Kupa whenponds were drained. The drainagetakes place ,periodically.During the studyperiod, extensive drainage of pondsbegan m October,when almost all pondswere drained becauseof fishharvesting. Most of pondsstayed empty duringwinter andwere filled up againm spring. Thosethat BOSNIA were full m winterwere briefly drainedand refilled. During Juneand early July,ponds were mostlyfull. One of the main Figure 1 Positionof Draganicfishponds in NW Croatia pondsand some of the smallerones were drainedfrom late 36

Julyuntil Septemberin mostyears. This was a general migration,the most numerous species were Lapwing and Ruff. pattern,with significantdifferences in particularyears, as in The autumnmigration was somewhatmore consistentbetween 1994,when all pondswere full throughoutAugust and years,and showed two peaks:a smallerone in Julyand September.In earlysummer, while full, fishpondswere August,consisting mainly of Wood ,and less mowedbecause they were completely overgrown by floating numerousCommon Snipes; and a later andlonger-lasting andemergent vegetation: Water Chestnut Trapa natans and peak consistingmainly of Lapwingsand lessnumerous FrmgedWater Lily Nymphoidespeltata. Dunlins.

METHODS Black-winged Stilt Himantopus himantopuswas seen seven The Draganicfishponds were visited once per ten-dayperiod times,always during the springmigration in April and May. (threetimes per month) from August 1991 to December1994 One individual was observed three times, while two, three, (n = 124 visits). The samesurvey route was takeneach time, four and eight birds were observedonly once. whichallowed us to checkall compartments.Each visit startedone hour after sunriseand lasted3-8 hours,depending AvocetRecurvirostra avosetta was noted twice: on August 27th 1991 (5 birds) and November 26th 1993 (1 ). 1400

Lapwing Vanellusvanellus bred in small numbers(max I I 1 I ...... 19931 , ' 10-15 pairs). The numberof pairsand breeding success dependedon thenumber of pondsdrained during the breeding period. In theworst years, all clutcheswere destroyed by the / •/L • /• '' ' '"/ •' refillingof theponds, while in yearswith laterfilling, a o proportionof nestsremaining unflooded. Lapwings also bred J F M A M J J A $ O N D months on the surroundingmeadows and ploughed fields, but not in Figure2 Totalnumbers of wadersat Draganicfishponds per 10-dayperiod largenumbers (max. 10 pairs). The springmigration began in fromAugust 1991 to December1994. lateFebruary and early March (with the exceptionof 1994, when two birds were recordedin late January)(Figure 3), Species No. Species No. reachingits peakin early and mid March. In earlyApril, only WoodSandpiper 93 Lapwing 2 the breedingbirds remained in the area. The autumn CommonSnipe 34 MarshSandpiper 2 migrationbegan in mid Octoberwith its peakin early Little S tint 23 Tumstone 2 November (in 1993 and 1994), mid November in 1991 and Ruff 11 CurlewSandpiper 2 early and mid Decemberin 1992. Maximum numbersduring CommonSandpiper 8 Grey Plover 1 the springmigration differed considerably between years, from Dunlin 8 RingedPlover 1 51 in 1993 to 928 in 1994. In the autumnmigration maxima Little RingedPlover 4 GreenSandpiper 1 weremore similar: from 830 to 1,007,with theexception of Redshank 4 JackSnipe 1 1991,when the peak was only 180 birds. The birdsobserved Greenshank 3 Temminck's Stint 1 betweenearly April andmid Junewere breeders.In late June (whenall theponds were full) birdswere not observed. Table 1. Numbersof ringedwaders at Draganicfishponds Lapwingspresent from early andmid July wereprobably duringautumn migration from 1992 to 1997 (total:201). breedersfrom the fishpondsand the surroundingarea which returnedto the smallponds which were briefly drained in on the seasonand circumstances.The longestvisits, 7-8 summer. Thesebirds stayedin the area until late August,and hours,were in Juneand July when a lot of pulli (mostly theywere mostly absent in September(before the beginning of ducklings,all bird specieswere counted) staying in well the autumnmigration), with the exceptionof 1991 whenthey developedvegetation, 5-7 hoursduring migration period, and stayeduntil late September. 3-4 hoursduring winter when birdswere lessnumerous and the waterwas frozen. Apart from regularvisits, some data werebased on ringing,conducted from July to October 1000 between1992 and 1997 (Table 1) and on irregularvisits made 8OO after December 1994. 700 --1901 8OO 5(3O ...... •oo3I

RESULTS 4130 ! , 30O A totalof 26 waderspecies were recorded during the four 2OO yearsof research.Two species,Lapwing and Little Ringed 100 I---19041 0 Plover,were breedingin small numbers.The total numberof J J ^ $ o N wadersthroughout the year (Figure2) showedthat the overall months patternwas different each year, both regarding the number of Figure 3 Numbersof Lapwingat Draganicfishponds per 1O-day period from migratingbirds and the timing of migration. During spring August 1991 to December1994. 37

Golden Plover Pluvialis apricaria was observedfive times birdswere alwaysobserved in mid March. There were two duringthe autumn migration: once in October(6 onOctober obviouspeaks: the first from late Marchtill earlyApril (max 18th 1994) andfour timesin November(1, 2, 5 and24 birds), 20-26 birds)and the secondin lateApril (max. 14-20 birds). with the last observationon November25th. Probably,birds Birdspresent during May weremostly or evenexclusively foundmigrating through this area are those using "East-West breeders.The autumnmigration was interrupted,the route",from NE Russiathrough Centxal Europe to Iberia migratingpattern was not souniform and birds were less (Hagemeijer& Blair 1997). numerousand more irregular. Nevertheless,they reached maximum numbers(5-15 birds) in late July and early August. Grey PloverPluvialis squatarola was observed irregularly duringautumn migration, from mid August to mid November, Black-tailed Limosa limosa was occasionallypresent with themajority of birdsbeing observed from late September in smallnumbers (<_23) during spring (from late Februarytill onwards. It was most numerousin 1991 (max. 18 birds in mid April) andautumn migration (from late Junetill mid October)but during1994, it wasn'tobserved at all. Outside Septemberalthough, like RingedPlovers, more were seenin thisperiod it wasseen only once, one bird on July6th 1992. spring. Thosebirds probably belong to the smallproportion of the GreyPlover population which migrate via theMediterranean Bar-tailed Godwit Limosa lapponicawas observedonly in Flyway (Hagemeijer& Blair 1997). autunm1991, when threebirds stayed in the fishpondsfrom September20th till Octoberl7th. RingedPlover Charadrius hiaticula was present during spring(from early March till mid May) andautunm migration Numenius arquata was observedduring autumn (from earlyAugust till mid October),but irregularlyand in migration,but irregularlyand in small numbers(<_18). They smallnumbers (_<11), although more birdswere seenin spring were also seen in winter on a few occasions, and two than autumn. specimensstayed in the area duringthe whole winter in 1994/ 95. During springmigration, they were seenonly once,two Little RingedPlover Charadriusdubius bred in evensmaller birdson April 8th 1993. numbersthan Lapwing, with a maximumof five pairs.As it bredlater then Lapwing, the refilling of theponds in spring SpottedRedshank erythropuswas present during the hadeven more of a negativeimpact on the breedingsuccess, springand autumn migration in someyears being quite with nestsbeing regularly flooded. As a result,during the numerous(Table 2). The springmigration was relatively short, entirestudy period, only nests with eggswere noted; pulli mostlytaking place in early andmid April (with first birdsin were neverobserved. However, it is possiblethat someyoung late March, and last in late May). Autumn migration was fledgedin someyears. The springmigration was regular and prolonged(from late Junetill mid November)and birdswere the samepattern was repeated every year (Figure4). First more irregular.

RedshankTringa totanuswas present during spring (from mid March till late May) and autumnmigration (mid Junetill

16 mid October),but irregularlyand in smallnumbers (max. 6 12 birds. Onebird, ringed at the fishpondson July25th 1995was 8 foundthe sameyear on September6th in Valle Figherinear 4 Venice, Italy. o '"•jIV; •'i,•'"', I ""•" J F M it\';.A ,,•,,/M_ • J J ?',•J.•,•..•,.,, A S .....O1•3l N D months Marsh SandpiperTringa stagnatiliswas recorded five times. Figure 4 Numbersof Little RingedPlover at Draganicfishponds per 10-day It was seenonly onceduring spring migration, twelve birds on periodfrom August1991 to December1994. April 6th 1994. It wasobserved four timesduring autumn migration,between July 14th andAugust 22nd: twice in 1994 (one and two birds)while two birdswere ringedin two subsequentyears (one in 1995 and one in 1996).

Table 2. Numbersof SpottedRedshank at Dragania:fishponds per ten-day period during spring and autumn migration from August 1991 to December1994.

Springmigration Autunmmigration

M. Apdl May J. July August September O•ober Nov.

1991 9 8 7

1992 5 9 9 4 6 4

1993 6 2 5 1 3 2 25 28 34 30 2

1994 17 93 100 7 I 4 2 11 1 38

Greenshank Tringa nebularia was regularduring the spring in low numbers(<10 birds) but a bit more regularin autumn (from late March till late May), with peaknumbers in April (mostlyfrom mid July till mid September).It was seenonly (max. 0-43) and duringthe autumnmigration (from late June onceoutside of periodshown in the table, two birdson till late October),with peaknumbers usually in Julyand November23rd 1994. It was never found duringwinter. August(max. 13-29). It was irregularonly duringthe autumn migrationin 1994, whenall pondswere full duringthe main TurnstoneArenaria interpreswas recorded only twice: three migrationperiod. birdswere seenin the areaon August23rd and 24th 1993 (one of them was ringed),and yet anotherbird was ringedon Tringa ochropuswas regularduring spring August 22nd 1996. migration,mostly from mid March to earlyApril (first birds appearedin late February,and the last in early May). Timing Common Snipe gallinago was regularduring the of springmigration is in accordancewith thatin springmigration, from early March till mid April (Figure6). Mediterraneanpart of Croatia(Stipcevic 1998), whichis about The maximum numbers were between 36-83. The main two weeksearlier than in Fennoscandia(Hagemeijer & Blair periodof the autumnmigration began in late July (the earliest 1997). Maximum, 7-26 birds,depending on the year, birdsarrived on 6th July 1992) andlasted until late November. occuredin late March. It was more irregular and less The autumnmigration showed two obviouspeaks: the first one numerousduring the autumnmigration (from late July till mid from mid Augusttill mid September(depending on theyear), September).Outside that period it wasseen only once,one with maxima of 119-197, and the second from mid October bird on June 22nd 1994. The maximum was 3-12 birds, till mid November,with maximaof 58-294. The first peak dependingon the year. It wasthe only waderspecies that wasnot observedin 1994, becauseall pondswere full in this regularlyoverwintered on the fishponds.The wintering period. CommonSnipes were observedwintering only in populationappeared during October, reaching its peakin late 1992/93(3-13 birdsin Decemberand one in January). Novemberand early December(max 7 birds). Only 1-3 birds Timing of springmigration is in accordancewith that givenby were seenfrom Decembertill early February(the periodwhen Hagemeijer& Blair (1997), but autumnmigration is somewhat pondswere mostly frozen). They probablystayed on rivers, longer(till late November),with peak still in November, canals and streams that did not freeze. whenbirds from the CentralEurope are alreadyreaching their winter grounds. Wood Sandpiper Tringa glareola was the mostregular and the mostnumerous of all the Tringa species(Figure 5). The mainperiod of the springmigration lasted from earlyApril till 250 mid May (the earliestbirds arrived on March 5th 1992, and the last stayeduntil June3rd 1994). The maximum was 45-103, 150 dependingon the year. The autumnmigration began in late lOO June,and its main periodended in early September.The last 50 birds were observed on November 25th 1992. The maximum

o wasbetween 171 and284. One bird ringedat the fishpondson N D August3rd 1993 was recoveredin the sameplace after 20 months days. Figure6 Numbersof CommonSnipe at Draganicfishponds per 10-day periodfrom August 1991 to December1994. Common Sandpiper hypoleucoswas mostly irregular and occurredin low numbers(<15 birds) duringthe spring migration(from early April till mid May), and alsooccurring Jack Snipe Lymnocryptesminimus wasnoted once, on October18th 1997, when onebird wastinged. Probablyit arrivedmore oftenduring the autumnmigration, but this speciesis difficult to detectbecause of its crypticcoloration and behaviour. • 2•o I.I 1--19911

/1. I...... •1 150 SanderlingCalidris alba wasseen only once, on May 14th

IO0 1993, when three birds were observed.

/ \ Little Stint Calidrisminuta was scarce during the spring J F M A M J J A S O N D migration,with only sevenobservations. They occurredin months smallnumbers, with the exceptionof a flock of 182 birds observedon May 16th1994. Theywere a bit moreregular Figure 5 Numbersof WoodSandpiper at Draganicfishponds per 10-day andnumerous in autumnwhen up to 41 wereobserved at one periodfrom August 1991 to December1994. time. 39

Temminck's Stint temminckii was notedonly five ttrnes,from late July until early September. One to threebirds 1000 wereseen on each occasion except August 25th 1992when 12 8OO --1991 [ birdswere observed. On August23rd 1993one bird was 7OO I • --19921 6O0 I t ...... 1993 caughtat the fishponds, which had been ringed on July 20th 5OO i t It - - -1994 1989 at the mouth of the river Vistula in Poland. 4OO 3OO

2OO Dunlin Calidrisalpina wasirregular and occurred in low 100 0 numbersduring the springmigration (1-5 birdsfrom mid J F M A M J J A S O N D months Marchtill mid May) with theexception of March27th 1992 when26 birdswere observed(Figure 7). The autumn Figure 8 Numbersof Ruff at Draganicfishponds per 1O-day period from migrationbegan in midAugust (the earliest birds arrived in August1991 to December1994. lateJuly), and lasted mostly until late November (the last birds were recorded(Kralj 1997) exceptWoodcock, which was observedin late December). The maximum occuredbetween commonin the surroundingforests. Somerare species,such mid Octoberand early November and amounted to 170-320 as Bar-tailed Godwit and Tumstone were also recorded. As birds,with theexception of 1992when it wasonly 21. On mentionedabove, the migrationpattern differed between years September19th and 20th 1993one bird was caught at the (Figure2). For example,the maximumnumbers in spring fishponds,which had been ringed three days earlier, on varied from 221 in 1993 to 1,423 in 1994, and in autumn from September16th 1993 at themouth of theriver Vistula in 365 in 1991 to 1,325 in 1993. Probably,these variations were Poland. mostlya consequenceof differencesin the timing and extent of drainageof theponds over the years. The mostremarkable

320 examplewas in 1994,when all the pondswere full duringthe 280 wholeof Augustand September, so practicallyno migrating 24O waderswere observedin thatperiod. A smallnumber of

160 waders(mostly Wood Sandpipers) present on fishponds,were

120 usuallyresting on floatingclumps of moweddecayed vegetation.Since there are anotherthree carp ponds in the Pokupskobasin (the nearest is 7 km andthe farthestis 15 km 0 J F M A M J J A S O N D away),birds could easily fly from oneto another(which was months oftenobserved), and that alsocould cause the irregularityin migrationpattern at Draganicfishponds. Synchronised studies Figure 7 Numbersof Dunlin at Draganicfishponds per 10- of all four fishpondswould probablyresult in more consistent dayperiod from August 1991 to December1994. migrationpatterns. It is knownthat migration patterns from a Curlew SandpiperCalidrisferruginea was scarce.It was singleinland site could reflect the changesin ecological observedonly onceduring spring migration: two birdson May parametersat thatparticular site, rather than the real migration 16th1994. Duringautumn migration it wasnoted four times: patternof a givenspecies in that region(OAG Mtinster1987). twicein lateJuly (oneobserved on July23rd 1991and one ringedon July 25th 1995),and twice in August:three birds on Accordingto theseresults, Draganic fishponds are an August6th 1993and one bird ringed on August23rd 1993. importantstopover site for migratingLapwings, Wood Sandpipers,Common Snipes, Dunlins and Ruffs in Croatia. Ruff Philomachuspugnax was regularand numerous during During springmigration, Lapwings and Ruffs dominate. thespring migration, which started in lateFebruary and lasted Springcounts at coastalwetlands on the islandof Pag till mid May (lastobservation on May 22nd 1994)(Figure 8). (Stipcevic1998) showedonly a partialsimilarity to Draganic The maximumwas between145 and 1045 birds,depending on Ruff wasthe mostnumerous species at both sites,but theyear. The main autumnmigration began in mid July (the Lapwing,which was alsocommon at Draganicwas scarceand earliestbirds in late June) and lasted till mid October, with few occurredin low numberson Pag. On the otherhand, Little birdsobserved until mid December.They were moreirregular Stint,which co-dominated on Pag wasvery irregularand and less numerous in autumn, with maxima between 38 and 88 occurredin low numbersat Draganic(except once, when 182 birds. The reasonof suchlow numbersin autumnprobably birdswere observed). •Although it is inappropriate tomake any lies in the useof a more westerlyroute during the autumn conclusionon the basisof only two studies,Ruffs seemedto migration(Hagemeijer & Blair 1997). useboth inland and coastalwetlands in Croatiaduring the springmigration, while Lapwingsprefer inland sites and Little DISCUSSION Stintscoastal ones. Of the other speciesobserved regularly, Duringthe studyperiod at the Draganicfishponds, all bothsites had about the sameimportance during spring speciesthat occurred regularly on migration in inlandCroatia migrationfor Little RingedPlover, Spotted Redshank, Greenshankand Wood Sandpiper. The Grey Ploverand 40

Redshankpreferred coastal wetlands, while the Common REFERENCES Snipepreferred inland ones. Bolic, J. 1992. VodeHrvatske: monografijao vodamai vodoprivredirepublike Hrvatske. Ministarstvovodoprivrede During autumnmigration at Draganicfishponds, Wood RH andJVP 'Hrvatskavodoprivreda', Zagreb. (In Croatian) Sandpipers,Common Snipes, Lapwings and Dunlins dominated.The late Dunlin peak (in Septemberand Cramp,S. & Simmons,K.E.L. (eds.) 1983. Handbookof November)is typicalfor this speciesin inlandEurope (Cramp Birds of Europe,West Africa and the Middle East. The birds 1983). It is interestingto mentionthe recoveryof the of the WesternPalearctic. Vol. 3. OxfordUniversity Press, first-year Dunlin from September1993 whichwas found only Oxford. three daysafter it had beenringed at Vistula mouth,Poland. This bird wasin a flock of 12, and the wholeflock spenttwo Hagemeijer,W.J.M. & Blair, M.J. (eds.) 1997. The EBCC daysfeeding all the time, so it may be concludedthat the Atlas of EuropeanBreeding Birds.' Their Distributionand distanceof 1,005 km in SSW directionwas probably flown at Abundance.T. & A.D. Poyser,London. once. Kralj, J. 1997. Croatianomithofauna in the last 200 Years. Althoughimportant for migrationof waders(on the Croatian Larus 46:1-112. (In Croatianwith Englishsummary) level), Draganicfishponds don't have such general importance for their breedingand wintering. That is becausefishponds OAG Mtinster1987. The timingof autumnmigration of some are filled with water in the breedingseason (and are therefore waderspecies in inlandEurope: provisional results. Wader unsuitablefor breeding)and in winter both the filled and StudyGroup Bull. 50: 7-16. drainedponds are mostly frozen. Only two species(Lapwing and Little RingedPlover) breed,both in low numbersand with StipcevicM. 1998. A surveyof springwader migration on low successrates. The only regularwintering species was the the wetlandsof theisland of Pag,Croatia (March-May GreenSandpiper, although also present in low numbers. 1990-1991). WaderStudy Group Bull. 84: 26-32.

New wader ringing site in Western Ukraine WlodzitnierzMeissner, Magdalena Retnisiewicz & Igor Szydlowskij

Wadersusing the coastof the Gulf of Gdansk(southem Baltic, the work was continued in 1996, Poland)as a restingplace continue their migration in three alsowith somesupport from KULING. differentdirections - alongthe EastAtlantic Coastal Flyway, inland to the Mediterranean and over the mainland towards the Theringing site 'Avosetta' is situatedat thedumping site of a Black Sea (Gromadzka1987). The latter two flyways are sulphurextraction factory and covers an areaof about50 ha. relativelypoorly studied,indeed the courseand use of the The areais dividedby dykesinto severalbasins containing Black Seaflyway is almostunknown as thereare very few open water with muddy banks and shallowswhich attract tinging stationsand recoveriesfrom the Black Sea direction. feedingwaders. A significantproportion of thesite is covered by reedbedand also by dry mud with low, sparsevegetation. The WaterbirdResearch Group KULING wasvery interested Catchingtook place in theperiod 15thAugust - 15th in the developmentof waderstudies along this flyway because September1995 and 5th August - 6th September1996. a proportionof the birdstinged by us at Redamouth migrate Waderswere caught using walk-in trapsand mist-nets to theBlack Sea. Filling thisgap in knowledgewould be situatedon themuddy banks of oneof theponds. Several possibleonly by establishmentof tingingpoints in the Dnestr mist-netswere also placed in the reed-bedto catch valley,which along with the Vistula-Sanrivers system, is passefines.Apart from catching,counts of waderswere also probablya corridorfor wadersmigrating to theBlack Sea. conducted. Counts were made from 15th June to 15th Realisationof thisidea was possible thanks to contactwith October,twice per five-day period outside the catching period Ukrainiancolleagues from the westernbranch of the andevery day during the catching period. UkrainianOrnithological Society. With thefinancial and organisationalsupport of KULING, in autumn1995 they PROVISIONAL RESULTS establisheda waderand passefine tinging sitenamed Resultsof catchingare presented in Table1. WoodSandpiper 'Avosetta'at Cholgyninear Lviv (49ø54'N, 23ø27'E). The Tringaglareola was the most numerous species ringed, tingingstation was run by ornithologistsfrom Lviv University althoughthe counts showed that the most numerous species with the help of Polishfingers (from GdanskOrnithological presentwere Lapwing Vanellusvanellus and Curlew Station) and members of WRG KULING. The first season Numeniusarquata, maximum daily numbersof whichreached generatedso muchenthusiasm amongst Ukrainian ringers that 1,850and 450 birdsrespectively.