The study of reading the wings of the gods Thrushes killed during the hunting season, which in Italy has reached its thirtieth year and sponsored by the ANUU Migratoristi, in France it was also held for the 2013-14 hunting season. The French hunters dedicated to hunting turdidae, under the guidance of the expert Jean-Paul Florentino, increased in membership and again collaborated in this technical-scientific analysis. Although the past season was not exciting in terms of numbers of subjects passed during the migration, the result obtained during this third year of collection and investigation was nevertheless important. As in previous years, the type of hunting used by the French was the one at the shed with the aid of calls. The data, which were collected from autumn to the end of winter, regarding the Redwing, called Grive mauvis by the French, belong to 497 culled individuals of which 199 adults and 298 juveniles (in the 2011-12 hunting season they were 509 the subjects killed, while in 2012-13 they were 582).
As regards the collection of the wings of the Song Thrush, called in French Grive musicienne, the subjects analyzed were a total of 3.650, of which 1,264 adults and 2,386 young (during the hunting season 2011-12 the bottacci thrushes analyzed were 2.556, while in 2012-13 there were 2.906).
The collection took place in various locations in the south of France. As already mentioned in previous years, the research in future years will give the opportunity to compare its results with those of Italy and Spain and other countries of the Mediterranean Basin within the scope of the research aims of the AECT (European Association of Traditional Hunts), so that a first correlation can be drawn on the dynamics of the populations of the two species during the migratory and wintering periods in these Member States.
ANUU MIgratorists
(June 25, 2014)