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Copyright of Journal of Ornithology is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Journal of Ornithology is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Determining the age of specimens is of great help in wildlife management, especially for rare or threatened species in which each individual has a high value. In birds, differences in moulting pattern between juveniles and adults may in some cases allow determination of a bird's age from the examination of its plumage. In the present study, we analyse the moult of 19 breeding individuals of White-backed Woodpecker Dendrocopos leucotos lilfordi captured for GPS tagging in the Pyrenees, in order to describe, for the first time, the moulting pattern of this endangered woodpecker. Two well-differentiated groups of adult birds were identified: those that underwent a partial moult, and were classified as second-calendar-year birds, and those that performed a complete one and were classified as older. The first group had renewed most lesser and median coverts, all primaries and the innermost greater coverts, thus showing clear moult limits between the primaries and secondaries and within the greater coverts. Some individuals also replaced up to two more greater coverts (GC5–6). Individuals classified as older birds showed all feathers to be of a single generation, indicating that they had undergone a complete moult. A few individuals in this category retained a few unmoulted secondaries and primary coverts, however. A recapture of a bird with a complete moult, which had been captured a year before showing a partial moult, would confirm these moult sequences to be age dependent. This moulting pattern is very similar to that described for other spotted woodpeckers, and allows researchers to determine the ages of breeding individuals during the nesting season. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Ornithology is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Open landfills seem to be playing an increasing role as target feeding areas for several species, not only in their breeding areas or during the winter, but also during the migration period. Evaluating the extent to which landfill sites are used by migrants is crucial to understanding their role in driving stopover decisions during migration, and in the potential health risks linked to feeding on refuse. The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of two open landfills located just before (France) and after (Spain) the East‐Atlantic flyway enters Iberia through the western Pyrenees as potentially important stopover sites for the White Stork populations moving along this route. Overall, we detected that these sites were used by storks that had been ringed from many western European breeding populations, mainly during the migration period, but also in winter. The mean distance between the stork breeding/ringing origin and the landfill sites increased from summer to winter, suggesting that storks breeding further away pass through Iberia later in the season, reflecting population‐specific timing of migration. During the autumn migration period (August–September), the first encountered landfill in France was estimated to be used by c. 1200 storks, and the other in Spain by 4000 storks. Our study hence contributes to a better understanding of the current and potentially hazardous role played by landfill sites in White Stork ecology, which is essential in order to provide management recommendations, and to evaluate the consequences of proposed open landfill closures in Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]