Black-tailed Godwits in West African winter staging areas : habitat use and hunting-related mortality

The persistence of the Dutch Black-tailed Godwit population depends largely on high adult survival. Adult survival may be influenced by hunting pressure and land use change in the wintering area, the West African coastal zone. Here we examine hunting pressure on and habitat use of Black-tailed Godwits in West African rice-growing areas. The Black-tailed Godwit is exposed to hunting throughout the core wintering area in West Africa but hunting related mortality does not seem to be the main driver of the ongoing population decline. Habitat use of godwits seems to be governed by the availability of their preferred habitat: (man-made) bare wet soil which is consecutively available in different parts of West Africa throughout the entire wintering period.