
First captures of Aquatic Warblers during post-nuptial migration in 2025!
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AWOM
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Biodiversity - Flyways
Bretagne Vivante, with David Miguélez. Original article in French
Thanks to the implementation of the LIFE AWOM programme, there are now more exchanges between bird ringers within Western Europe, providing a broader view and data of the Aquatic Warbler migration in our different countries.
Under the French national action plan for the Aquatic Warblers (PNA project), LIFE AWOM partner Bretagne Vivante is collecting information received informally from their bird ringing networks and gathering them to map Aquatic Warblers captures from the selected site. The international collaboration and mutual understanding that have developed through the LIFE AWOM project enables now Bretagne Vivante to widen the extend of this mapping and integrate more data from European ringers.

The first captures recorded through Bretagne Vivante’s network during the birds migration took place in Spain, by ringers from the Fundación Global Nature. On 22 July 2025, an Aquatic Warbler was captured at the La Nava site in central Spain. On 23 July, another was captured at the Laguna de Boada site, about 15 km from La Nava, and on 25 July, a bird was captured at the Laguna de Gallocanta. The work at this site is being carried out by ringers from the Aragón region:

All birds that has been captured there are adults. These observations are consistent with what is known about the migration of the Aquatic Warbler, particularly with regard to the global location sensors (GLS). Previous studies have shown that adult males migrate earlier than females and juveniles (Wojczulanis-Jakubas et al. 2017).
These dates in the third decade of July are consistent with phenological knowledge on the Iberian Peninsula. During these first captures, a check was carried out on an individual that had initially been ringed in Belgium.