ROOSTING SITE FIDELITY OF GREAT TITS (PARUS-MAJOR) DURING WINTER

We studied roosting site fidelity of the Great Tit in winter. The stud y was conducted in a Central-Hungarian Alder forest from 1986 to 1990. We found strong area fidelity in majority of the roosting Great Tits. Eighty percent of adult males used nestboxes within an area of D = 13 0 m, and adult females within an area of D = 150 m. Eighty percent of observations were within 180 m for immature males. For immature female s the sample size was too low to establish conclusions. The wintering sites overlapped strongly with the breeding territories, eighty percen t of roosting Great Tits were observed less than 120 m apart from thei r breeding holes. This study supports the hypothesis that familiarity with future breeding site may promote territory establishment, althoug h it does not exclude the alternative explanation that residency may c onfer an advantage during winter alone.