Variation in timing of breeding of five woodpeckers in a primeval forest over 45 years: role of food, weather, and climate

Abstract Climate warming could lead to ‘mis-matching’ of birds’ breeding times with availability of their invertebrate food resources. Fluctuating spring temperatures could influence variation in the commencement of egg-laying, as well as, in phenology of their resources (e.g., tree bud burst, appearance of folivorous caterpillars). We studied timing of Dendrocopos leucotos, Dendrocoptes medius , Dendrocopos major , Dryobates minor, and Picoides tridactylus breeding in, free of direct human intervention, strictly protected fragments of Białowieża Forest (Poland) in 1975–2019. We related their onset of breeding to inter-year variation in spring weather, trees’ bud burst and timing of folivorous caterpillars’ availability. Individual species initiated breeding at dates differing by a month. In spite of intraseasonal differences in the absolute laying dates, sometimes exceeding three weeks, the sequence of laying by different species within a season was highly repeatable; D. leucotos commenced the first and P. tridactylus the last. Within a species and season, the females commenced laying synchronously; usually 50% of them begun laying ≤ 8 days of each other. All species bred earlier when spring temperatures got higher. Nestling time of D. medius and D. major broadly coincided with ‘caterpillar peaks’, while D. minor young appeared too late. All woodpeckers advanced egg-laying in Białowieża National Park over 45 years but the inter-specific sequence of laying has been retained. These could be responses to strong advance of snow disappearance and to warming of the second half of April. The early recent laying dates remained within the range of earlier recorded ones, the early springs just became more frequent. Thus, the phenological acclimatization could be achieved by plastic behavioural and physiological adjustments. Lack of data on types of food actually used and their seasonal variation hinders mechanistic understanding of how warming would affect the future food supply and breeding performance of birds.