Postfledging movements and site persistence of Saxicola rubetra in the abandoned fields in Russky Sever National Park (north of European Russia)

The post-fledging period, usually defined as the time between when a bird fledges and disperses outside the natal site, is an important critical stage in the life cycle of open-nesting passerines. Estimates of the natal site persistence and the distance of post-fledging dispersal are necessary to understand local population dynamics. In the present study, we estimated the natal site persistence and the distance of post-fledging dispersal of Saxicola rubetra on abandoned agricultural fields in the Russky Sever National Park (north of European Russia) using the method of individual colour marking. In addition to the visual detection, we used a network of camera traps installed on artificial perches to resight marked fledglings in the post-fledging period. This method is used for the first time to track the movements of individually marked passerines. In 2023–2024, 754 individual resightings of 150 Saxicola rubetra fledglings were made, representing between 29% (in 2023) and 60% (in 2024) of all individually marked nestlings that successfully left the nests. The juveniles spent an average of 34.6 ± 0.8 days in the natal site, dispersing between 70 m and 2400 m from the natal nests. Some individuals were observed in the natal site until the start of the autumn migration. Our study showed that the trap cameras installed on the artificial perches can be an effective tool for the resight of colour-marked juveniles of some passerine species.