On the 9th and 10th of May 2011 took place another scavenger bird count within the scope of the project. This count had the participation of 3 volunteers, Cristina Maroñas, Luís Filipe and Luís Martins, whom we would like to thank for their help in the field. The project technicians Alfonso Godino, David Delgado, Eduardo Santos, Nuno Curado and Pedro Lourenço also participated in this count.
On the first day we counted birds in the Mourão/Moura/Barrancos SPA and in the second we counted birds in the Vale do Guadiana SPA, and during the count we noted not only scavenger birds, but also other raptors, large soaring birds and steppeland birds. During the two days of field work we counted 18-24 Black Vultures Aegypius monachus, most of which (11-15) in the Mourão/Moura/Barrancos SPA. This was the highest number of Black Vultures detected in these counts so far. Overall, we detected 13 raptor species, the most abundant being the Gryphon Vulture Gyps fulvus (370-450 individuals), followed by the Black Kite Milvus migrans (23-30 inds.), the Common Buzzard Buteo buteo (17-23 inds.) and the Common Kestrel Falco tinnunculus (15-19 inds.). Among the other species we noted relatively high numbers of Montagu’s harrier Circus pygargus, Black-shouldered Kite Elanus caeruleus, Booted Eagle Hieraaetus pennatus and Short-toed Eagle Circaetus gallicus, all between 8-12 individuals, and the presence of Golden Eagle Aquila chrysaetus and Bonelli’s Eagle Aquila fasciata.
We also counted 5-6 Black Storks Ciconia nigra, 2 Little Bustards Tetrax tetrax, 2 Black-bellied Sandgrouse Pterocles orientalis, 1 Great Bustard Otis tarda and 8 Ravens Corvus corax.
The next counts will take place in July, and we would very much welcome any volunteers who would be willing to help! If you are interested please contact the project technician Pedro Lourenço through the following email: plourenco@ceai.pt
