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Scavenger bird counts of March 2011
28 March 2011


On the 21st and 22nd of March 2011 took place another scavenger bird count within the scope of the project. This count had the participation of 5 volunteers, Cláudio Ferreira, Cristina Maroñas, Inês Range, Tiago Ventura and Vera Arsénio, whom we would like to thank for their help in the field. The project technicians Alfonso Godino, David Delgado, Nuno Curado and Pedro Lourenço also participated in this count.
On the first day we counted birds in the Vale do Guadiana SPA and in the second we counted birds in the Mourão/Moura/Barrancos SPA, and during the count we noted not only scavenger birds, but also other raptors and large soaring birds. During the two days of field work we counted 15-18 Black Vultures Aegypius monachus, most of which (11-13) in the Mourão/Moura/Barrancos SPA. This was the highest number of Black Vultures detected in these counts so far. Overall, we detected 15 raptor species, the most abundant being the Gryphon Vulture Gyps fulvus (220-290 individuals), followed by the Common Buzzard Buteo buteo (11-14 inds.) and by the Short-toed Eagle Circaetus gallicus (10-14 inds.). Among the other species we noted the presence of all the larger eagles that occur in Portugal (Golden Eagle Aquila chrysaetus, Imperial Eagle Aquila adalberti and Bonelli’s Eagle Aquila fasciata).
We also counted over 80 White Storks Ciconia ciconia and 2 Black Storks Ciconia nigra, as well as 5-8 Ravens Corvus corax.

The next counts will take place in May, 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 e-mail: plourenco@ceai.pt.


Black Vulture Aegypius monachus observed during the count