Authors: Kiss, Orsolya; Tokody, Béla;

The worldwide decline of the avifauna disproportionately affected migratory birds. Full annual cycle approach is necessary to understand the processes driving these changes as migratory species use different areas during the breeding and the non-breeding periods when different factors may affect the individuals. The European roller is a long-distance migratory species which entire European population has undergone a serious decline, and except from a few countries with current positive trends, it is still decreasing nowadays. Our aims were to reveal the movement patterns of rollers including the study of home-range and habitat use during breeding season and also the migration phenology, migrations routes, stopover and wintering sites. The adult rollers were tagged between 2015 and 2021 in Hungary. Our results showed high individual variability of home-range size during the breeding period. We found the Sahel region as an important stopover area, where we found the frequent use of croplands, contrary to the wintering areas which were mostly characterized by natural grassland vegetations. Our results contribute to the better understanding of the movement patterns and habitat requirements of the species during the full annual cycle enabling us to plan comprehensive, and therefore effective conservation strategies