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Lesser Whitethroat and Wren Captures Increased While Icterine Warbler Captures Declined at a Hungarian Ringing Site

Lesser Whitethroat perched in vegetation
Conservation · Population & status

A nine-year standardized ringing study in southeastern Hungary found increases in autumn capture rates of lesser whitethroat (Curruca curruca) and Eurasian wren (Troglodytes troglodytes), while capture rates of icterine warbler (Hippolais icterina) declined. The study analysed changes in 25 passerine species at the same ringing site from 2016 to 2024.

Mist nets are fine mesh nets stretched between supports to temporarily capture flying birds so they can be handled, measured or sampled.

Fieldwork took place near Kevermes in a former pheasant-farm woodland and along an adjacent dried drainage canal. Thirteen mist nets were kept in the same positions and operated on the same schedule each autumn from 1 August to 31 October, making captures comparable across years.

Most species showed no clear trend

A total of 14,229 birds of 74 species were captured during the study. The trend analysis focused on 25 species recorded every year, giving 11,917 ringing encounters in the analysed dataset.

Lesser whitethroat and Eurasian wren were among the species whose standardized capture indices increased across the nine years. The icterine warbler capture index showed the opposite pattern and declined. Wood warbler and common nightingale also showed strong upward tendencies, but these changes were too uncertain to distinguish clearly from no change.

Year-to-year variation remained large

For most species, the study did not detect a clear long-term change. The author notes that annual capture totals can fluctuate strongly because of differences in breeding success and adult survival, and that trends measured at a single local site do not necessarily match national population trends.

The site itself is an anthropogenic woodland dominated by planted Russian olive, with a dried drainage canal containing shrubs and reed vegetation. The long-running use of fixed net positions and a repeated seasonal schedule allowed changes in capture rates to be compared under a consistent sampling design.

Sources and image credit

  1. Bozó, L. (2026). Changes in annual captures of 25 passerines in an anthropogenic habitat in Hungary. Environmental and Experimental Biology, 24(1), 7–11. https://doi.org/10.22364/eeb.24.02Primary peer-reviewed study published in March 2026. Standardized autumn mist-netting near Kevermes from 2016–2024 produced 14,229 captures of 74 species; 25 species and 11,917 ringing encounters entered the trend analysis. Lesser Whitethroat and Eurasian Wren captures increased significantly, while Icterine Warbler captures declined significantly; the author cautions that local capture trends do not necessarily represent national population trends.

Image: Dr. Raju Kasambe / Wikimedia Commons — Lesser Whitethroat; representative species image, not a bird from the Hungarian ringing study · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source

About this content: This story was produced with AI assistance within an editorial workflow developed by Wildlife Vagabond. Editorial responsibility remains with Wildlife Vagabond.How AI is used

Population & status

SPECIES IN THIS STORY

Species in this story

Lesser Whitethroat Curruca curruca Explore species Eurasian Wren Troglodytes troglodytes Explore species Icterine Warbler Hippolais icterina Explore species

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