Hunting and Fauna: ANUU on some species of avifauna, the Pagliarolo, a small passerine at risk and the Scottish Cruises on which the first survey was presented.
The Pagliarolo (Acrocephalus paludicula) is a 13 cm sylvan that is becoming less and less common in European aquatic areas. In this regard, already in 2010 ornithologists and researchers met in the Biebrza National Park, in Poland, to discuss its future and to implement a conservation project for the species. The meeting was organized by UNEP's Conservation of migratory species of wild animals through an international agreement, namely the CSM Agreement on the Acquatic Warbler. Currently the small sylvan is classified as a vulnerable species present in the IUCN red list and as endangered species by the European Union. It is also a species included in Annex I of the Birds Directive, Appendix II of the Bern Convention and Appendix I of the Bonn Convention. It is a species that is permanently present in Belarus, Germany, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine, and is irregular in Russia. Unfortunately, its territorial presence is fragmented. In Western Europe, the species became extinct in the XNUMXth century and dramatically decreased in Central Europe.
In Italy the Pagliarolo was breeding as well as in France, Belgium, Holland and Austria. Two small isolated populations nest in northwestern Germany and Poland and in western Siberia. Through targeted studies on the DNA of the species it was possible to define the status of existing populations where in the cases of isolated ones we are witnessing phenomena of consanguinity that are very deleterious for the future of the species.
Regarding the Scottish Cruiser (Loxia scotica), Ron Summers W. of the Royal Society for the Protection of Scottish Birds and Buckland Stephen of the University of St Andrews Ecological and Environmental Research Center in the UK surveyed for obtain an initial estimate of the population size of this species. The study was carried out in an area of 3.506 km2 made up of coniferous wood in the north of Scotland, from January to April 2008, where this endemic species lives. Estimates on the population in this area were also made for the common Cruises (Loxia curvirostra) and for the Pinewoods Cruises (Loxia pytyopsittacus).
The Cruisers were attracted to selected points for the systematic investigation of their count and sexing thanks to recordings of calls of the species. The Cruises were detected in 451 of the 852 points investigated and in 387 of these the subjects reacted to the calls. The Scottish Cruises demonstrated disjoint distribution and subjects were detected largely within the eastern part of the study area, but also in the northwest.
The Common Cruises demonstrated a predominantly western distribution. The Scottish Cruise post-juvenile population size has been estimated at 13.600, with an approximate number of 6.800 pairs. The Common Cruises proved to be more abundant within this range, while the Pinewoods Cruises appeared more rarely (about 100 individuals counted). Again in the Scottish species, the sex ratio of the individuals observed proved to be equal.
It should be remembered that the number and distribution of all species of Cruisers may vary over the years, depending on the size of the conifer crops. Unlike the Scottish Cruise, however, the populations of the Common Cruise and the Pinewood Cruise can also be affected by the raids of individuals moving from mainland Europe. This study has revealed various trends and habits of the population of the Scottish species, and further studies on the condition of its habitat (for example the selection of conifers in the various seasons) are necessary for its management and conservation, including through the planting of coniferous forests in order to ensure its future.
(March 9, 2015)
ANUU Migrators