We last reported on the Black-tailed Godwit Amilcar Cabral. The bird was equipped with a GPS transmitter in December 2025 in its wintering grounds in Guinea-Bissau and established a breeding territory in the EU Special Protection Area Rheiderland in early April 2026. However, for several days, the transmitter only transmitted locations from a nearby copse. This led to the suspicion that the bird might have fallen prey to a predator. During a search, the transmitter was recovered. However, no remains of the bird were found. In the immediate vicinity, plucked feathers and the remains of other waders, such as Black-tailed Godwits, Redshanks, Lapwings, Snipes, and Golden Plovers, were discovered. It can therefore be assumed that Amilcar Cabral was also preyed upon. There is strong evidence to suggest that a Goshawk is responsible for the adult bird’s death, as there is a known Goshawk breeding population in the immediate vicinity.
Predation is one of the main causes of the dramatic decline of the Black-tailed Godwit population in Germany. In particular, the consumption of eggs and chicks by predators leads to low breeding success in many areas. However, adult birds in the breeding area are also repeatedly preyed upon by, for example, Peregrine Falcons or Goshawks.
The loss of adult breeding birds has a particularly severe impact on a region’s breeding population: on the one hand, it jeopardises current breeding success; on the other, these breeding birds are also missing from the population in subsequent years. For areas that focus on protecting meadow birds, the development of suitable habitats for them is therefore crucial. This includes the removal of landscape features that particularly benefit the predators of meadow birds.
