The non-breeding distribution of Dupont's Lark Chersophilus duponti in Spain

Abstract

In this paper, we analyse the non-breeding distribution of Dupont's Lark, one of Europe's most threatened and least known passerines, using breeding and wintering censuses, published and unpublished records of individuals outside their breeding areas, and data on radio-tagged individuals and field observations. Results suggest that most breeding Dupont's Larks remain around the breeding sites during the non-breeding season, including those populations from areas with harsh winter weather conditions. The probability of winter presence of Dupont's Larks in breeding areas was significantly correlated with population size, but the altitude of the locality studied did not influence winter presence. Records outside breeding areas indicate that part of the population moves some distance after breeding, occupying lower sites and principally those with agrarian substrates. We also found several records far from well-known breeding areas during the breeding period. Our results suggest that Dupont's Lark seems to be a partial migrant, wintering in breeding areas in large numbers (probably the adult fraction of the population) but with some part of the populations moving to other areas. The movements are short-distance in most cases, although medium- and long-distance dispersive movements were also detected. We discuss the implications of these results for the design of specific conservation measures for the species.