Latitudinal variation in female local return rate in the philopatric Pied Flycatcher (Ficedula hypoleuca)

Philopatry and dispersal distances of female Pied Flycatcher (Ficedula hypo leuca) are presented for European populations using data from 25 breeding a reas from 40 to 70 degreesN. Female annual survival probabilities according to capture-recapture models were similar in two study areas in central Spa in ( 25 and 52%). The present study shows that survival is underestimated b y using annual local return rate in one of the two breeding populations und er study in central Spain. In southern and central Europe, females were fou nd to return equally regularly to their breeding areas, whereas in northern Europe (latitude > 60 degreesN) females returned at lower rates. I did not find that median dispersal distance varied among sites, nor was breeding d istance related to locate survival rate. Therefore, the present study sugge sts that the decline in between-year local return rate of female Pied Flyca tchers with increasing latitude over Europe may be more probably caused by differences in mortality than by geographical differences in site fidelity.