Klomp H. & van der Starre C. (1956) Verslag van het Kievitenringstation 'Reeuwijk' over de jaren 1946-1955. ARDEA 44 (4): 269-281

Third report of the activities of the Lapwing ringing station at Reeuwijk, Holland (1946-1955). The activities of the station are shortly summarized. For details on methods, the reader is referred to the preceding reports (Kluijver en van der Starre 1943; Klomp 1947). Reeuwijk is situated 25 km NE of Rotterdam. Table 1 shows the number of days the station was in operation. The numbers of Lapwings ringed and released are summarized in Table 2. All birds caught were sexed, aged, and classified as males or females, yearlings or adults. During the years 1943-1945 in both autumn and spring the yearlings amounted to 40% of the total (Klomp 1947). In later years the proportion of first year birds in autumn increased to 51% on average, but was unchanged in spring. This fact suggests that, owing to their inexperience, first year birds survive the winter less well than do adults. The number of birds caught per day was very variable, and depended upon quite a number of factors. One of these appeared to be the amount of moonlight during the preceding night (fig. 2 and 3). Recoveries are shown in fig. 4. They are published in detail in the reports of the Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie at Leiden on bird-ringing (see Limosa vol. 12 (1939)-vol. 28 (1955)). Autumn visitors reach Holland from NW, E and central Europe, and winter in S France, Spain, Portugal, and sometimes Morocco. Consequently, the migration routes of the breeding birds of E and central Europe must be angled, and the birds must change their standard direction. This normally occurs after the moult in the lowlands of NW Germany, Holland and Belgium (Klomp 1947). . The change of the standard direction must be greatest in the case of certain birds breeding in Czechoslovakia. Recoveries of birds ringed in that country show that part of the population reaches its winter quarters along this angled northern route, though others travel along a southern route and pass through Italy, as do Hungarian Lapwings (fig. 4). It is suggested that central European birds passing Holland in autumn return to their breeding grounds along the southern route in spring. This view is supported by seven Lapwings ringed at Reeuwijk in autumn and subsequently recovered in Italy in March, when spring migration is in full progress.