Rfalconcam Forum

Yesterday, 24th September 2009


GONHS IN BID TO SAVE ENDANGERED FALCONS

CAPTIVE RESCUE: Vincent Robba, head of the Raptor Unit at the Gibraltar Ornithological and Natural History Society, holds a Lesser Kestrel that will hopefully form part of a captive breeding program in the future. The bird was nursed back to health after it was found on Devil’s Tower Road. Numbers of Lesser Kestrel have declined sharply in Gibraltar, as elsewhere. Picture: Johnny Bugeja

The Gibraltar Ornithological and Natural History Society will launch a “breed and release” conservation program to boost the local population of Lesser Kestrels, a bird of prey that is in decline across the world. (Brian Reyes reports).

These small falcons were once very common here but numbers dropped sharply over the past five decades as urban development encroached on natural feeding grounds.

Further pressure came from the continued use of pesticides in Africa, where the birds migrate during winter, and from natural predators such as gulls, whose numbers have risen sharply.

“Fifty years ago there were 100 [Lesser Kestrel] nests here,” said Vincent Robba, who heads the Raptor Unit of the GONHS. “This year there are no more than 20.”

“These birds have gone down drastically in number,” he added. “It’s a major concern really, because they are going down worldwide.”

The International Union for Conservation of Nature, which brings together government and private scientists and volunteers from 160 countries, describes the Lesser Kestrel as “vulnerable” in its respected Red List of Threatened Species.

“This species has undergone rapid declines in western Europe, on its wintering grounds in South Africa and possibly in parts of its Asian range,” the IUCN said.

“If these declines are representative of populations in all regions, the total population is likely to have declined rapidly, which qualifies the species as ‘Vulnerable’.”

“It is predicted that these declines will continue.”

The IUCN estimates that there are just 21,000 pairs of Lesser Kestrels in Europe and North Africa.

Mr Robba and his team are currently caring for a young female Lesser Kestrel that was found on Devil’s Tower Road. They think the bird fell from its nest on the north face of the Rock.

This female, now almost fully recovered, will hopefully form part of the first breeding pair. The challenge now is to find a male, possibly a captive bird from a raptor centre in Spain.

“We hope to breed them in captivity and then release the young birds into the wild,” Mr Robba said.

If the program proves successful, the plan is to release the birds into areas where they were not traditionally found.

The eastern sand slopes, for example, were covered with corrugated irons sheets for decades but now, having been returned to their natural state, represent an ideal habitat for these birds.

Mr Robba and his team have carried out a similar breeding programme with another local bird, the Peregrine Falcon, and have successfully bolstered its numbers in Gibraltar.

This year alone, seven Peregrines were bred in captivity and three have already been released into the wild, where seven pairs are already established.

The Raptor Unit of the Gibraltar Ornithological and Natural History Society has saved around 25 birds this summer following the spring migration.

The birds of prey had been attacked by gulls or, in some cases, simply collapsed from exhaustion on the journey north.

Alerted by members of the public and the emergency services, the GONHS team collects the birds and nurses back to health.

It was a varied mix this year, from Griffon vultures, Black Kites and Short-toed Eagles, to tiny Kestrels and Little Owls.

With the autumn migration poised to start in the coming days, the GONHS raptor team is braced for another busy few days ahead.

On Saturday October 3, the team will be displaying some of these beautiful birds of prey at the Alameda Gardens to mark European Bird Watch day.

Other members of GONHS will also give a bird-ringing demonstration and explain their work in conservation.

Later in the day, the GONHS observation post at Europa Point will be open to the public.

The site offers an unrivalled view of the Strait of Gibraltar and is an ideal spot from which to observe migrating birds.

I didn't know there was a Kestrel shortage.

Hi Donna. The lesser kestrel is like a small common kestrel, but in fact they aren´t very close related (at least that is what molecular analysis says. And yes, it is declining in Europa.
The scientific name is Falco naumanii
Mirta

Thanks Mirta....there's so many "lesser" "common" species, I can't keep up.