Age and seasonal differences in the biometrics of dunlins (Calidris alpina) migrating in spring through the Pripyat River floodplain, southern Belarus

Abstract

Analysis of the biometric parameters of dunlins is based on data of 496 adult birds and 214 birds in their second year of life captured during the spring migration in the years 2002–2014 in the floodplain of the Pripyat River in southern Belarus. The average size of the dunlins caught in this area shows that the majority of birds correspond to the parameters of the nominate subspecies (C. a. alpina). We have not found any statistically significant differences between the age groups in all morphometric parameters except for the length of the wing, which in the birds in their second year of life is slightly smaller than in adults. Both the adult dunlins and the yearlings have two peaks in the distribution of biometric parameters, such as the bill length to the nostril, the bill length to the feathering, the total length of the head with the bill, and the length of the wing, which is associated with differences in the size of males and females. We have noted an increase in the average bill length to the nostril, bill to feathering length, and the total length of the head with the bill, as well as the wing length in the adult birds captured during the spring migration. These values are especially significant in the last five days of May. The body mass index of the dunlins passing through the floodplain of the Pripyat River increases intensively during the migration, which can partly be attributed to the later migration of large birds (females). However, the main reason for the increase in the body mass index is that the birds migrating later in spring have higher energy reserves compared with the earlier migrants. At the end of the migration period, in the floodplain of the Pripyat River, the body mass indices of dunlins are very high. This suggests that birds leaving the stopover site in southern Belarus in early June have sufficient energy resources to reach the nesting places in one nonstop flight.