Drought‐driven foraging adjustments in breeding white storks Ciconia ciconia : GPS tracking insights from two French marshes

In the context of climate change, the increasing frequency of severe meteorological events, such as floods or droughts, is expected to impact various life history traits in organisms, primarily by altering the availability and quality of their trophic resources. Our study aimed to quantify the effects of meteorological conditions on the fine‐scale space use of breeding white storks Ciconia ciconia . Birds were equipped with GPS/acceleration loggers in two breeding areas within the marshes of the French Atlantic coast and monitored over four years, including one year of drought. Specifically, we examined variations in home‐range size, daily foraging distances, the proportion of time spent foraging, and daily activity levels in relation to drought conditions and individual state (sex, brood age and brood size). Our findings reveal that under drier conditions, storks increased their daily foraging distances, home‐range size, and time spent foraging. Individuals with smaller broods travelled greater distances from the nest, and tended to exploit larger home‐ranges. Their activity levels and time spent foraging increased with brood age and brood size, and were higher in females than in males. Our findings reveal how climate change, particularly drought, affects the foraging behaviour of a wetland top predator, and highlight the conservation challenges faced by wetland ecosystems.