Dataset: Individual life histories Sanderlings Calidris alba at six non-breeding locations along East-Atlantic flyway

The data file contains individual encounter histories of 1,358 adult Sanderlings (Calidris alba) that winter in six different areas, England, France, Portugal, Mauritania, Ghana or Namibia and were observed between 2007-2013 in the main study site, their winter area (between 1 November – 1 March) and/or outside the main study site, during the interval between encounter occasions at the main study sites (during migration in Europe between 15 March and 15 October and at least 2 latitudinal degrees north of the median winter latitude). Encounter histories are coded as ‘LDLD’ (“Live, dead, live, dead”), where L codes for life encounters in the main study site (0: not observed, 1: observed) and D for (life or dead) encounters outside the main study sites (0: not observed, 1: observed dead, 2: observed alive). The encounter history of an individual starts with the first observation in its wintering region in the year after marking. Winter regions are indicated by the last six columns of the data file which are separated by spaces, where a 1 in the first column indicates England, the second column indicates France, the third Portugal, the fourth Mauritania, the fifth Ghana and the sixth Namibia. Further details can be found in the methods section in the manuscript.