Movement decisions by black‐tailed godwit families with chicks in an intensively managed dairy farming landscape

Over recent decades, agricultural landscapes around the world have become increasingly industrialised, leading to significant species and habitat losses. This also holds for grassland ecosystems in Western Europe, currently dominated by intensively managed dairy farming that disrupts the reproductive cycle of migratory meadow birds, such as the declining black‐tailed godwit Limosa limosa limosa . The chick‐rearing phase, a critical part of their breeding cycle, is particularly affected.

Godwit families (parents and their brood) make active movement decisions that likely reflect how they perceive and respond to their environment. In an intensively managed Dutch dairy farming landscape, we followed 54 godwit families with GPS tracking throughout the 25‐day chick‐rearing period. We examined their daily home ranges, moment of leaving the natal area and habitat selection in relation to a satellite derived measure of grassland production intensity (GPI) and to agri‐environmental schemes (AES) representing different land management strategies. We also compared these movement decisions between families that successfully fledged chicks and those that did not.

Families that successfully fledged chicks stayed in the vicinity of their nest longer with smaller daily home ranges than unsuccessful families of the same age. Moreover, families used larger areas when the average GPI within those areas was higher. When leaving their natal area, families consistently avoided fields with higher GPI and selected grasslands with long‐term habitat improvement measures such as protected areas, herb‐rich vegetation, delayed mowing and partial flooding while avoiding arable fields and conventionally managed grasslands.

Synthesis and applications . These findings show that godwit family movements reflect active responses to habitat characteristics at and around their natal site. Our study emphasises the importance of implementing habitat‐improving measures and protecting not only sites within high‐density nesting areas but also the surrounding landscape. Moreover, our results confirm that intensive agricultural management reduces the capacity of landscapes to support successful chick‐rearing. Consequently, conservation strategies should prioritise landscape‐scale management approaches that expand and connect low‐intensity, nature‐inclusive farming practices to provide sufficient functional habitat throughout the chick‐rearing period.