Turkey as a crossroad for Greater Flamingos Phoenicopterus roseus: evidence from population trends and ring-resightings (Aves: Phoenicopteridae)

The Greater Flamingo Phoenicopterus roseus is a waterbird commonly found in saline and brackish lagoons throughout the Mediterranean Region. We have gathered existing data on Greater Flamingos in Turkey and carried out field surveys to present the most up to date information on wintering (1999–2014) and breeding (1969– 2014). The wintering population of flamingos shows an increasing trend with 54,947±20,794 individuals mainly concentrated in the Gediz, Büyük Menderes and Çukurova deltas, respectively. Breeding attempts were recorded in at least seven wetlands in Turkey in the past, yet after 1999 most of the colonies were abandoned due to basin scale intensive water management practices in Central Anatolia. Currently, only Tuz Lake and Gediz Delta are used as regular breeding sites, while breeding has been recorded sporadically in Ac?göl and Ak?ehir Lakes. The breeding colony of Tuz Lake is of prime importance at the Mediterranean scale, with the number of young chicks in 2011, 2012 and 2013 accounting for the highest number of fledglings in the Mediterranean Region and West Africa (18,418, 20,274 and 20,292 respectively). Finally, building upon the previous findings about Turkey and the western Mediterranean metapopulation links, recent resightings of Turkish flamingos (despite the limited numbers) confirm post-fledging and natal dispersal reaching the western Mediterranean Basin and West Africa. Flamingos from Turkey were also found to disperse to Israel and to a region outside the known flyways of the western Mediterranean and West African flamingos (i.e. to Israel and UAE). Thus, Turkey, due to its geographic position, appears to be a crossroad between the western and eastern Mediterranean Region and southwest Asia.     

Climate change leads to decreasing bird migration distances

Global climate change has led to warmer winters in NW Europe, shortening the distance between suitable overwintering areas and the breeding areas of many bird species. Here we show that winter recovery distances have decreased over the past seven decades, for birds ringed during the breeding season in the Netherlands between 1932 and 2004. Of the 24 species included in the analysis, we found in 12 a significant decrease of the distance to the wintering site. Species from dry, open areas shortened their distance the most, species from wet, open areas the least, while woodland species fall in between the other two habitats. The decline in migration distance is likely due to climate change, as migration distances are negatively correlated with the Dutch temperatures in the winter of recovery. With a shorter migration distance, species should be better able to predict the onset of spring at their breeding sites and this could explain the stronger advancement of arrival date found in several short distance species relative to long-distance migrants.     

Significant effects of season and bird age on use of coppice woodland by songbirds

Woodland birds have experienced widespread population declines across Europe, resulting partly from a decrease in management practices such as coppicing. Increasing fuelwood demand may reverse the decline of coppicing, making it timely to attempt a fuller understanding of its effects. Here, the impact of coppicing on year‐round habitat use by adults and juveniles of 16 songbird species was quantified from a quasi‐experimental study over 32 years (1978–2009) in Treswell Wood, Nottinghamshire, UK. Habitat use was inferred using capture rates from more than 10 000 h of mist‐netting (> 25 000 captures) and detailed information on coppicing. Capture rates varied with coppice age in different ways: (1) increases as coppice aged (e.g. Marsh Tit Poecile palustris, juvenile Eurasian Treecreepers Certhia familiaris); (2) declines as coppice aged (e.g. Eurasian Blue Tit Cyanistes caeruleus, Great Tit Parus major); (3) peaks in capture rates at intermediate coppice age (i.e. 5–15 years) (e.g. Garden Warbler Sylvia borin, Willow Warbler Phylloscopus trochilus, adult Treecreepers); and (4) a peak at intermediate ages, followed by a decline, before an increase in use again at the oldest coppice ages (i.e. > 20 years) (e.g. Common Blackbird Turdus merula, Eurasian Blackcap Sylvia atricapilla, Eurasian Bullfinch Pyrrhula pyrrhula). Responses to coppice age were similar in different seasons, although Willow Tits Poecile montana showed little preference during breeding but avoided older coppice at other times. Juveniles and adults often differed in their responses to coppice age. The analyses reveal patterns in habitat use that are relevant to woodland management and conservation policy. They suggest that a mosaic of age structures in woodland is beneficial to a wide range of woodland species, and that management should consider the requirements of all age‐classes of birds at different times of year.     

Estimating mortality rates among passerines caught for ringing with mist nets using data from previously ringed birds

Mist netting is the most commonly used method for catching birds for scientific ringing, but despite decades of use, there have been few attempts to quantify the associated potential risks to the individuals caught. Any incidence of mortality through capture and handling, however low, is of potential ethical concern and may also introduce biases into the data. We estimate the mortality rate associated with capture of previously ringed (recaptured) passerines from the British and Irish Ringing Scheme (c. 1.5 million records) caught using mist nets. The importance of species, age, mass, month, time, previous captures, and an index of predator occurrence was tested using generalized linear mixed‐effects models. The average mortality rate was 0.0011, most of which was reported to occur before the individuals had been extracted from the nets (c. 70% of incidents). Juveniles appeared to be at higher risk and the incidence of predation from mist nets was seasonal, with increased risk during the winter. Species differed in their reported mortality rates with the apparent risk being greatest for Chiffchaff Phylloscopus collybita (0.0029) and Bullfinch Pyrrhula pyrrhula (0.0027). To improve our understanding (and hence minimize risk in future), we recommend collecting more complete data on incidences of mortality, and also injuries; exercising increased care when the species we have identified as being at greater risk are likely to be captured, and ensuring there are robust procedures for the checking of nets (as most reported incidents of mortality occur before handling). We also recommend that all Ringing Schemes should collate and make available data on capture‐related mortality. Overall rates of mortality associated with capture, although, were low and support the use of mist netting as a safe capture technique, without undue bias from mortality, when used by appropriately trained individuals.     

A review of survival estimates for raptors and owls

This paper reviews the literature on survival estimates for different species of raptors and owls, examines the methods used to obtain the estimates, and draws out some general patterns arising. Estimating survival usually involves the marking of birds so that they can be recognized as individuals on subsequent encounters. Annual survival can then be estimated from: (1) birds ringed at known age (usually as nestlings) and subsequently reported by members of the public (usually as found dead), the ratio of recoveries at different ages being used to calculate annual survival; (2) marked breeding adults, trapped or re‐sighted in subsequent years in particular study areas, with the proportion re‐trapped (or re‐sighted) in each year being taken as the minimum annual survival; (3) live encounter (trapped or re‐sighted) of birds marked either as nestlings or breeding adults analysed using the capture–mark–recapture (or re‐sighting) methods to estimate annual survival; (4) a combination of reports of known‐age dead birds and re‐trapping/re‐sighting of live birds; (5) use of radio‐ or satellite‐tracking to follow the fates of individuals; and (6) the integration of these methods with other information, such as change in numbers between years, to derive estimates of survival and other demographic parameters. Studies confined to particular areas usually give estimates of ‘apparent annual survival’, because they take no account of birds that leave the area. However, radio‐ or satellite‐tracking makes it possible to estimate true survival, including survival of prebreeders that have low natal‐site fidelity (this usually requires satellite telemetry). As in other birds, the preferred method for estimating survival has changed over time, as new and more robust methods of estimation have been developed. Methods 1 and 2 were the first to be developed, but without statistical underpinning, while methods 3–6 were developed later on the basis of formal statistical models. This difference has to be borne in mind in comparing older with newer estimates for particular species. Published survival estimates were found for three species of Cathartidae, one of Pandionidae, 29 of Accipitridae, 12 of Falconidae, one of Tytonidae and nine of Strigidae, almost all from temperate Northern Hemisphere species. In most of these species more than one estimate was available, and in some separate estimates for different age or sex groups. The main patterns to emerge included: (1) a significant tendency for annual adult survival to increase with body weight, smaller species having annual survival rates mainly of 60–70%, medium‐sized species having rates mainly in the range 70–90% and the largest having rates of > 90%, in the absence of obvious human‐caused losses; (2) a lower survival in the first or prebreeding years of life than in subsequent years; (3) a lack of obvious or consistent differences in survival between the sexes, where these could be distinguished; and (4) in the few species for which enough data were available, a decline in annual survival rates in the later years of life.     

Farmland Birds across the World

2010, Lynx Edicions, Montseny, 8, E-08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain 138 pages, hard cover ISBN 978–84-96553–63-7. Price €24.00     

Montane forest birds in winter: do they regularly move to lower altitudes? Observations from the Eastern Cape,South Africa

Seasonal altitudinal migration to lower altitudes including the coast has been ascribed to a number of forest birds, of which 14 species occur at Fort Fordyce Reserve in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Based on our observations and ringing at this site (2007–2017), as well as concurrent data from the South African Bird Atlas Project (SABAP2), we suggest that in this region only three species, the African Dusky Flycatcher Muscicapa adusta, White-starred Robin Pogonocichla stellata and Barratt's Warbler Bradypterus barratti, are regular altitudinal migrants. For two other species, the Grey Cuckooshrike Coracina caesia and Yellow-throated Woodland Warbler Phylloscopus ruficapilla, local movements apparently occur, but these may take place within the coastal zone rather than between the coast and inland forests.     

Seasonal elevational movements of Eastern Olive Sunbird Cyanomitra olivacea in the Uluguru Mountains,Tanzania

Little is known about the seasonal elevational movements for most tropical avifauna species. Seasonal elevational movements of the Eastern Olive Sunbird Cyanomitra olivacea were studied along an elevational gradient from 600 to 1 500?m above sea level in the Uluguru Mountains, Tanzania, between May 2005 and February 2006. The recapture of ringed individuals along an elevational gradient across seasons provided evidence for the seasonal elevational movement of the Eastern Olive Sunbird in the Uluguru Mountains and the first documented evidence for this species in the Eastern Arc Mountains as a whole. Due to forest fragmentation and lack of corridors connecting high- and low-altitude forests in the Uluguru Mountains, the results have implications for conservation of the forest along the entire elevational gradient as well as for other forest bird species that have been documented to make seasonal elevational movements in the Uluguru Mountains and the entire Eastern Arc Mountains.