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Declines in habitat quality through the breeding season within a bird’s home‐range can limit overall productivity. In environments where multiple breeding opportunities arise during the course of a season, these effects can be buffered by a shift to different breeding sites or habitats. We studied the distribution and habitat associations of a crop‐nesting farmland bird, the Yellow Wagtail Motacilla flava, across an arable‐dominated farming region in eastern England using both field‐scale territory mapping and large‐scale transect surveys. Surveys were repeated at monthly intervals to measure changes in both distribution and habitat use during the course of the season. The distribution of breeding birds changed markedly at both regional and field‐scales, coinciding with a shift in crop preference. Initially, most territorial birds were recorded in autumn‐sown cereal fields, but this crop was subsequently abandoned in …