Hunting and Migratory: The Bottaccio Thrush in Lazio, this is the theme of a study published by Federcaccia, Avigauna Migratoria Office.
As announced last January, the three-year research work FIdC - Gruppo Inanellamento Limicoli on the pre-nuptial migration of Song Thrush in Lazio, entitled "Timing of the spring migration of the Song Thrush Turdus philomelos through southern Italy", by the authors Sergio Scebba, Michele Soprano and Michele Sorrenti, was published in the number 36/2014 of the scientific ornithological journal "THE RING". In the article, which illustrates the data based on the research aimed at identifying the start date of the pre-nuptial migration of the species, through a standardized three-year ringing campaign, the authors conclude that this begins between the second and third ten days of February, after overall analysis of the recaptures of subjects ringed in the same years and evaluating the changes in the weight and fat score of the individuals captured.
These results are consistent with what emerged from other works in southern France and Corsica, as well as in other studies carried out in central and southern Italy, published and currently being presented. Several ISPRA texts also recognize the month of February as the period in which the pre-nuptial migration of the Song Thrush begins.
It should be emphasized that this publication in an international scientific journal constitutes the recognition and certification of the validity of a work decided and supported by FIdC, a positive contribution for the possible modification of the national KC data, which today foresees the second ten days of January for the beginning of the pre-nuptial migration of the song thrush, as well as for the application of the results in the Lazio region. An important step forward to reaffirm, also in the light of the latest events, the correctness of maintaining the date of January 31st for the closure of the hunt and for the legitimacy of the studies carried out by the hunting world.
Rome, 10 March 2015
FIdC Migratory Birdlife Office