Consequences of Spring Warming for the Black Redstart (Phoenicurus ochruros) in NW Croatia

Average global temperatures in Earth have increased over the past 100 years and climate change impacts wildlife in countless ways. Numerous of the works demonstrated climatic impacts on bird phenology. We used 26 years of data from black redstart (Phoenicurus ochruros) in population from Mokrice village (northwestern Croatia), 1987-2012. Correlation between timing of arrivals and year was significant. Black redstart arrival dates have become 8.84 days earlier during the research period. The relationship between local mean spring temperatures and year was significant. The date trends in spring migration correspond with increasing mean spring air temperatures (March-April). This result suggests that black redstart respond to air spring temperatures by earlier arrival at breeding grounds. Our results are consistent with many other long-term studies of the timing of birds migration and suggest that air spring temperature change may be responsible for shifts in arrival dates.