New publication on the carry-over effects of non-breeding habitat use in the Eurasian Curlew!

Jan Hanzelka and colleagues analysed habitat use in 124 GPS-tracked Curlews. They found that habitat use on the non-breeding grounds weakly affected nest success in this declining shorebird.

They identified habitat-use effects in females, but not in males. Females that used inland wetlands and intertidal mudflats, rather than salt marshes, on their non-breeding grounds had higher nest success in the subsequent breeding season.

The study is available at:

Hanzelka, J., Mueen, Q. H., Donnez, M., Bocher, P., Boschert, M., Brlík, V., Düttmann, H., Elts, J., Fartmann, T., Fiedler, W., Franks, S. E., Garthe, S., Jiguet, F., Kämpfer, S., Kruckenberg, H., Krupiński, D., Marja, R., Obłoza, P., Piha, M., Rousseau, P., Rupprecht, V., Schmidt, J., Schwemmer, P., Thiess, L. and Procházka, P. 2026. Sex‐dependent carry‐over effects of non‐breeding habitat use on breeding performance in the Eurasian curlew. – Journal of Avian Biology 2026: e03665. https://doi.org/10.1002/jav.03665