Brood protection is essential but not sufficient for population survival of lapwings Vanellus vanellus in central Switzerland

Abstract

Lapwing are among those ground nesting bird species that suffered strong population declines following agricultural intensification in many parts of Europe. The key problem appears to be a low breeding success which, depending on the situation, may be due to predation of eggs and chicks, starvation of chicks especially during dry conditions, agricultural activities leading to direct killings, and suboptimal breeding habitat. Here, we report on a population of 40–60 lapwing breeding pairs in an intensively cultivated arable landscape in central Switzerland, where protection from farming activities, implementation of special lapwing habitat and nest fencing to exclude terrestrial predators (mainly red fox) started in 2005 and is still ongoing. Chicks were ringed and families subsequently observed every 2–3 days. Hatching success for fenced nests built before May was high. Low hatching success was observed in unfenced nests due to high predation rates and in late nests due to abandonment by the female when the vegetation was growing too tall (e.g. maize). Regularly, chicks disappeared during the night shortly after hatching. Most likely many of them first left the fence and were predated outside. Our observations from a fenced field with wet soils and puddles suggest that lapwing may produce sufficient offspring if predation can be reduced and if large enough areas with suitable habitat are available.