Trap response of Wood Sandpipers Tringa glareola.

We used sightings and recaptures of colour-markedWood Sandpipers to examine the trapresponse of this locally abundant migrant in north-east Austria. Birds were caught in selectedwastewater pools of the local sugar factory using walk-in traps. According toresightings and recaptures, most birds apparently left the initial trapping site soon aftercapture. Since the majority of birds moved to another trapping pool instead of any of thenon-trapping pools, our findings suggest that the mere presence of traps does not affectthe choice of feeding site of previously capturedWood Sandpipers. However, that birdsavoided sites of initial capture indicates that results of studies (e.g. on habitat quality)which involve trapping of birds should be viewed with caution.

Y. Muraoka & G. Wichmann, Ornis Fennica 84:140-142. 2007