[NatureNS] Surveys reveal raptor 'super-roost '-- BirdLife News Alert - Latest

Date: Thu, 26 Apr 2007 10:58:30 -0300
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From: webeditor@birdlife.org.uk
Date: Thu, 26 Apr 2007 12:28:31 +0100
To: jimwolford@eastlink.ca
Subject: BirdLife News Alert - Latest News

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BirdLife News Alert
Thu Apr 26 12:00:00 2007
New items on the BirdLife International website:

Surveys reveal raptor 'super-roost'’
http://www.birdlife.org/news/news/2007/04/raptor_super_roost.html

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PHOTO: (Cuneyt Oguztuzun) Lesser Kestrel has shown major population declines
in large parts of its western Palearctic breeding range.

Surveys reveal raptor Œsuper-roost¹

26-April-2007

Surveys in Senegal by LPO (BirdLife in France) have revealed a single roost
containing over 28,600 Lesser Kestrel Falco naumanni and 16,000 African
Swallow-tailed Kite Chelictinia riocourii ­ one of the largest bird of prey
roosts ever found.

³One evening, I saw the passage of some 300 birds flying over,² said
Philippe Pilard of LPO, who discovered the site in January 2007. ³The next
evening I saw 1,300 falcons fly over. I therefore decided to follow them,
which was only possible on foot.²

³I first walked 10 kilometres -even crossing rivers by canoe- and finally
found the Lesser Kestrel roost, along with the African Swallow-tailed
Kites.²

The existence of communal roosts during the non-breeding season -sometimes
involving several thousand individuals- has been observed in a number of
different countries including Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger. However
conservationists have described this enormous roost -altogether some 45,000
insectivorous raptors- as exceptional.
 
The numbers of roosting Lesser Kestrel at this site are thought to represent
more than half of the known breeding populations of western Europe and
northern Africa combined. The roost likely held individuals from Morocco,
Spain, Portugal and France.

The finding is the culmination of seven years of research and many hours of
observation in the field by LPO ornithologists, funded for the past year by
La Fondation Nature et Découvertes.

During the course of the next few years, comprehensive surveys of the region
are now being planned.

"Although there have been a number of conservation efforts devoted to Lesser
Kestrel in France...these efforts will be fruitless if nothing is put in
place to protect its African wintering grounds.² ‹Yvan Tariel, Head of
Raptor Conservation at LPO
 
Lesser Kestrel is listed as Vulnerable by BirdLife. The species has
undergone rapid declines in western Europe - equivalent to c.46% in each
decade since 1950. As such, the species has been the subject of significant
conservation efforts, particularly in its European breeding range.

LPO have used the discovery to highlight the importance of protecting
wintering sites, as well as breeding sites, across the range of this
migratory species.

³Although there have been a number of conservation efforts devoted to Lesser
Kestrel in France and elsewhere in Europe, these efforts will be fruitless
if nothing is put in place to protect its African wintering grounds.² said
Yvan Tariel, Head of Raptor Conservation at LPO.

Find out more about Lesser Kestrel - visit BirdLife's Data Zone

See Also

BirdLife species factsheet: Lesser Kestrel

LPO: BirdLife in France

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Wings over Wetland (WOW) Project

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Migrating Soaring Birds in the Middle East ...

Related Sites

La Fondation Nature et Découvertes


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