60 volunteers and the
Rangers of the Government of Navarra counted 1.678 red kites in 19 roosting
places last January
Navarra
is a region of around 10.000 km2 located in the northern part of
Spain, along the Spanish/French border, and to the south of the Pyrenees. The Navarran
population of Red Kites was first thoroughly monitored twice in the 90’s during
the 92/93 and 93/94 wintering seasons and then continuously counted in the
2000’s for the last 17 winter seasons.
The
results of the last wintering season are presented in this report. A full
report and more detailed information can be found in The
Red Kite in Navarra blog. The average of the population estimate
for the Navarran population for the 17 census done is 1.957. The total count
for the 2014/2015 wintering period was 1.678, down 9 % and 148 birds, from the
previous 1.826 count. Furthermore, this value still represents 15 % less than
the average census count and also represents a significant loss from the
maximum value of 2.615 in 2007.
As a
summary, in a few words, after two years with increasing values for the
Navarran population this winter period observed a remarkable decrease in the
number or wintering red kites. At the end of the day the values in this decade
are far down from the averages values for the Navarran population in the 90’s,
average value of 2.164 and the 00’s, average value of 2.059.
The
Navarran wintering population of Red kite this year was distributed among 19
roosting areas, each one having a variable number of roosting places. Like in
the previous two years the complete south of the region was not collecting many
birds to the extent that even if we could see some scattered individuals during
the day we were unable to locate any roosting places at all. This happens after
the extinguishing of the roosting places of the Ribera and the prior
disappearing of the roosting places in the Zona Media.
This
population seems to be very dependent on the public dumping areas and this is
the potential reason for the significant changes observed in the distribution
of the kites inside the region in the last few winters when several dumping
areas were closed and dumping activities concentrated in a few places.
This
year 5 tagged red kites were spotted, 2 of them from a German origin and one
from France. At the time of writing this report the origin of the remaining two
is still to be found.
We do
believe that national and international collaboration is a key factor in the
conservation of the different species and in particular of the right kite. This
year we are promoting the coordination of the census at a national level and
will prepare a report when the data are collected.
Year
Population estimate
Count
1993
2290
2181
1994
2254
2147
2001
2249
2142
2002
2229
2026
2003
2008
1673
2004
2522
2522
2005
2244
2137
2006
2667
2615
2007
2240
2175
2008
1951
1894
2009
1959
1866
2010
1613
1536
2011
1810
1724
2012
1521
1449
2013
1755
1671
2014
1917
1826
2015
1.795
1.678
Average
2.060
1.957
Year
|
Population estimate
|
Count
|
1993
|
2290
|
2181
|
1994
|
2254
|
2147
|
2001
|
2249
|
2142
|
2002
|
2229
|
2026
|
2003
|
2008
|
1673
|
2004
|
2522
|
2522
|
2005
|
2244
|
2137
|
2006
|
2667
|
2615
|
2007
|
2240
|
2175
|
2008
|
1951
|
1894
|
2009
|
1959
|
1866
|
2010
|
1613
|
1536
|
2011
|
1810
|
1724
|
2012
|
1521
|
1449
|
2013
|
1755
|
1671
|
2014
|
1917
|
1826
|
2015
|
1.795
|
1.678
|
Average
|
2.060
|
1.957
|
