Sex-specific patterns of fuelling and pre-breeding body moult of Little Stints Calidris minuta in South Africa

The timing and duration of each stage of the life of a long-distance migrant bird are constrained by time and resources. If the parental roles of males and females differ, the timing of other life stages, such as moult or pre-migratory fuelling, may also differ between the sexes. Little is known about sexual differences for species with weak sexual dimorphism, but DNA-sexing enables fresh insights. The Little Stint Calidris minuta is a monomorphic long-distance migrant wader breeding in the Arctic tundra. Males compete for territories and perform elaborate aerial displays. Females produce two clutches a season. Each sex may be a bigamist and incubate one nest a season, each with a different partner. We expect that these differences in breeding behaviour entail different preparations for breeding by males and females, so we aimed to determine whether Little Stints showed any sex differences in their strategies for pre-breeding moult and pre-migratory fuelling at their non-breeding grounds in South Africa. We used body moult records, wing length and body mass of 241 DNA-sexed Little Stints that we caught and ringed between 27 January and 29 April in 2008-2018 at two neighbouring wetlands in North West Province, South Africa. For each individual we assessed the percentage of breeding plumage on its upperparts and took blood samples for DNA-sexing. We calculated an adjusted Body Moult Index and an adjusted Wing Coverts Moult Index, then used the Underhill-Zucchini moult model to estimate the start dates and the rate of body moult in males and females. We estimated the changes in the sex ratio of the local population during their stay in South Africa, and also estimated the timing and rate of pre-migratory fuelling and the potential flight ranges for males and females. The males started body moult on average on 7 February and the females on 12 February, but the sexes did not differ in their timing of wing covert moult, which started on average on 10 February. In January to mid-February, males constituted c. 57% of the population, but their proportion declined afterwards, indicating an earlier departure than females. We estimated that both sexes began pre-migratory fuelling on average on 15 March. The sexes did not differ in fuelling rate, but most females stayed at the non-breeding site longer than the males, and thus accumulated more fuel and had longer potential flight ranges. These patterns of moult and fuelling suggest sex differences in preparations for breeding. We suggest that the males depart from South Africa earlier but with smaller fuel loads than the females to establish breeding territories before the females arrive. We conclude that for each sex the observed trade-offs between fuelling and moult at the non-breeding grounds are precursors to different migration strategies, which in turn are adaptations for their different roles in reproductive behaviour.

Automated summary

The study revealed sex differences in pre-breeding strategies of Little Stints at their non-breeding grounds in South Africa, with males leaving earlier but with smaller fuel loads compared to females. This suggests that males adopt different migration strategies to establish breeding territories before females arrive.