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Tracking long-distance migration of the black-headed bunting Emberiza melanocephala along the Indo-European flyway

The black-headed bunting(Emberiza melanocephala) is a long-distance migrant of the Indo-Europeanflyway, with poorly known patterns of migration. From 2014 to 2017, we equipped 60 Black-headed Buntingmales with the light-level geolocators on breeding grounds in Croatia. Here we present geolocator data from16 recaptured birds to provide the first insight into the migration routes, staging and year-round phenology of the species. After leaving the breeding grounds in mid-July birds reached the 6200 km distant Central Indiannon-breeding sites (Maharashtra) in approx. two months. The individual birds stopped-over 4–9 times and eachmigration leg was on average 1032 km long. Main post-breeding stop-overs were distributed in Balkan peninsula(mostly Greece), Central Anatolia (Turkey), Zagros Mountains (W Iran), Indus Valley (Pakistan) and Gujarat (WIndia). The return trip in spring was twice as fast, starting in early April and ending at the beginning of May, with3–4 stopovers distanced 1457 km on average. These stopovers were distributed along the coast of the ArabianSea and the Persian Gulf, Mesopotamian plain and Mediterranean coast around Balkans. Pre-breeding migrationroutes were significantly more southern compared to post-breeding, resulting in a clockwise loop migration. Individual migration patterns indicated that Iranian plateau is an ecological barrier during the post-breedingmigration, while on the pre-breeding migration birds seem to take advantage of irrigated agriculture fields tocross the deserts of the Arabian Peninsula.

Black-headed Bunting ; Migration ; Indo-European flyway

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