Effect of extreme weather conditions on the course of breeding of the Northern Lapwing (Vanellus vanellus) in 2013
Abstract
The unusual climatic situation in 2013 greatly affected the timing of the breeding season in the Northern Lapwing (Vanellus vanellus) in the Czech Republic. In order to assess the extent of this effect, we studied the onset of nest incubation in 517 lapwing clutches in the areas of České Budějovice (southern Bohemia) and Hradec Králové (eastern Bohemia) in 2010-2013.
Due to continuous frosts in the second half of March, the breeding season was delayed by two weeks in 2013. It was then unusually stretched into the summer months due to the delayed start of nesting, significantly excessive rainfall in May and June together with rather low temperatures during the spring.
This combination of climatic factors slowed the crop rotation schedule and the crop growth, providing suitable breeding opportunities for the lapwings, along with the promise of favourable conditions for the young hatched unusually late in the season. There were at least 11 nesting attempts in 2013 dated after the latest ones reported in the Czech literature so far.
Therefore the timing limit in lapwings breeding in the Czech Republic was shifted by 9 days. The incubation of the latest clutch started on 15 June.
In this paper we discuss some interesting ecological and behavioural phenomena including the hatching success accompanying the shift of the breeding season in 2013.