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Changes in the proportion of young birds in the hunting bag of Eurasian wigeon: long-term decline, but no association with climate

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Abstract

The proportion of first-year birds in annual wing samples provided by hunters has been used as a measure of breeding success in waterfowl. The proportion of first-year birds in the wing samples of Eurasian wigeon (Mareca penelope) from Denmark and the UK shows a long-term decline, probably reflecting a decrease in breeding success. However, previous studies report conflicting results in the relationship between variation in the proportion of first-year birds and variation in climatic conditions. We used wing data of hunter-shot Eurasian wigeon from Finland to study whether the proportion of first-year birds shows a similar long-term decline and whether between-year variation in the proportion of young is associated with variation in climatic conditions. We found a long-term decline in the proportion of first-year birds. The proportion of young also varied considerably between years, but this variation was not associated with weather or the climatic variables considered for the breeding and wintering periods. More research is needed concerning factors that affect long-term changes and annual variation in the proportion of young in the hunting bag and on the suitability of this index to measure productivity in ducks.

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Acknowledgements

The late Matti K. Pirkola did invaluable work when he organised the collection of hunter-shot duck wings in Finland during 1966–1988. Arno Salminen identified wigeon samples in the early stage and taught V-MV the secrets of identifying duck age and sex from wing samples. We would like to thank all the hunters who voluntarily supplied us with duck wings and Katja Ikonen for help in organising the wing sampling scheme 2014–2016. Tony Fox kindly helped us break the back of the problem in their analysis of factors affecting variation in age ratios of hunter-shot birds in Danish wigeon samples. Comments from two anonymous reviewers helped to improve the manuscript. We thank Stella Thompson for checking the English.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Management and Production of Renewable Resources, Natural Resources Institute Finland, Yliopistokatu 6, FI 80100, Joensuu, Finland

    Hannu Pöysä

  2. Department of Forest Sciences, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 27, FI 00014, Helsinki, Finland

    Veli-Matti Väänänen

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  1. Hannu Pöysä
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Correspondence to Hannu Pöysä.

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Pöysä, H., Väänänen, VM. Changes in the proportion of young birds in the hunting bag of Eurasian wigeon: long-term decline, but no association with climate. Eur J Wildl Res 64, 20 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10344-018-1179-9

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