Since this limited study, no work has characterized home range features of the species. To examine the possible overlap of bird territories along the Meuse River (Belgium), Hürner and Libois ( 2005) radio-tracked two European Kingfisher males during the breeding period. 2000) or the water quality (Meadows 1972), but few studies considered combinations of potential factors affecting the distribution of the species along watercourses (Bonnington et al. 2007), the quality of riparian vegetation (Peris and Rodriguez 1996), the availability of food (Campos et al. Until now, most studies dedicated to habitat features of the European Kingfisher have focused on environmental factors explaining the distribution of breeding pairs such as the bed stream features (Peris and Rodriguez 1996 Bonnington et al. Given the declining and alarming population trend of the European Kingfisher in Europe and the possible relationship between this decline and the management or perturbations of the habitats exploited by the species, studies are needed to characterize its home range features. 1985), is particularly subject to water pollution or perturbation of its habitats that are likely to significantly impact population conservation conditions (Tucker and Heath 1994). The European Kingfisher, a specialized species breeding within freshwater environments (Brooks et al. This significant decrease has led to the classification of the European population as “vulnerable” under the IUCN’s criterion “A” (BirdLife International 2015). In 2015, the European population was estimated to be decreasing by 30‒49% over three generations (BirdLife International 2021). ![]() Listed in Annex I of the European Union’s “Birds Directive”, the European Kingfisher ( Alcedo atthis) is a small plunge-diving bird, today considered as a species of conservation concern in Europe given its rapid decline observed across the continent (BirdLife International 2004). For this species, today classified as vulnerable in Europe, our results underline the importance of developing conservation and ecological restoration policies for wetland networks that would integrate small wetlands particularly sensitive to global change. Our study reveals interesting GPS tracking possibilities for small plunge-diving birds such as the European Kingfisher. Our results also underscore: (1) a rather important home range fragmentation index (0.36 ± 0.08) and (2) the use by birds of different types of small wetlands (wet ditches, small ponds or small waterholes), often exploited in addition to habitats encompassing nest locations. ![]() Data analyses highlighted rather limited home ranges exploited by birds (average = 2.50 ± 0.55 ha), composed on average by 2.78 ± 0.40 location nuclei. On average, we collected 35.31 ± 6.66 locations usable for analyses, without a significant effect on bird body condition ( n = 13 tags retrieved). ![]() In 20, we equipped 16 breeding European Kingfishers sampled within the marshes of the Gironde Estuary (France), with miniaturized and waterproof GPS archival tags deployed with leg-loop harnesses (total equipment mass = 1.4 g average bird mass = 40.18 ± 1.12 g). We implemented a pilot study aimed at providing first data allowing to: (1) assess home range features of the European Kingfisher for populations with unevenly distributed feeding habitats (2) define conservation implications for habitats exploited by such populations and (3) evaluate possibilities for developing GPS tracking schemes dedicated to home range studies for this species that could be possibly applied to other small plunge-diving birds. The European Kingfisher ( Alcedo atthis) is a small plunge-diving bird, today considered a species of conservation concern in Europe given its rapid population decline observed across the continent.
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