Five years of census on an unhuntable species by high hunters Seriana, in the province of Bergamo, important data to understand the presence of the ptarmigan, which represents, with the black grouse and the rock partridge, the typical alpine avifauna historically most present in the Orobic Prealps of the Seriana Valley Alpine District, while the presence of Francolini di monte and very rare those of the capercaillie. A research bears the signature of Giovanni Lubrini, president of the typical alpine commission of the CA Valle Seriana: for the black grouse and the rock partridge, for decades, control data of the presences collected through the spring and summer censuses carried out by the hunters of the Alpine District, in agreement with the Provincial Police and the Province of Bergamo, while for the ptarmigan, not huntable species since 1991, only a few occasional data were available, as adequate censuses were never carried out.
For this reason, some hunters of the Cac Valle Seriana, particularly passionate about the knowledge of this species, have started the collection of presence data since 2015 through carrying out spring and summer censuses, authorized by the Province, following methodologies already tested in the Alps, which essentially consist in counting males in spring with the use of the acoustic call and in summer counting of young people and adults with the help of pointing dogs, a method that is state recently also incorporated in the regional guidelines for the management of alpine galliformes. The spring censuses of males, which represent the essential basis of reference for the control of the populations present, were carried out on 70-80% about the area of vocation to the species; the data are therefore very representative to make a correct estimate of the spring populations present in the area.
"It is an animal that gave itself up for missing, we decided to invest our free time to rediscover it and the Orobie Park really liked it, which can study our data - explains the President of the Cac Valle Seriana based in Gromo Francesco Bassanelli di Federcaccia Bergamo-. We are about ten hunters of all ages: the next censuses will be on 3 dates in June and to observe them we must also do 8 hours of walking; surely there is no hunting interest, but to observe a special animal that was considered extinct in our parts. Climate change and the rise in temperature they put their existence at risk: their color allows them to camouflage themselves in the snow in winter, which however, with the exception of this year, has been delayed in recent years and are thus more easily preyed upon by birds of prey: however, we did not expect to find so many, every year from 25 to 35 couples, an excellent result ".
The area of vocational presence for ptarmigan in the Seriana Valley Alpine Hunting Area is included for approximately 1560 hectares in the Orobie Bergamasche Natural Park and for approximately 230 hectares in the territory open to hunting for a total of approximately 1790 hectares: the territory included in the Barbellino Wildlife Farm was not taken into account. Already from the first year of observation, in 2015, enthusiasts were happily surprised by the good density of spring presence of ptarmigan in the territory of the upper Seriana Valley and in the following years these values were reconfirmed, recalling that this species was considered by many now rarefied e even endangered in the Orobic Prealps.
The Commission for the specialization of typical Alpine avifauna considers it correct to express evaluations by reasoning on objective data, voluntarily dedicating time and effort in carrying out these censuses, even without hunting purposes. The summer censuses with the help of pointing dogs were carried out on less extensive territorial samples than in spring (30-35% of the distribution area), but in any case sufficient for an indicative estimate of the reproductive success and post-reproductive presence of ptarmigans in the territory of the District. The census data of six years of observations were processed taking into account other studies and research by experts carried out on the Alpine arc and allow observe a certain stability of the presence of ptarmigan in the territory of the Alpine hunting district of the Seriana Valley males, females and young people estimated over the years: 128 in 2015 and to follow, 111, 103, 106, 144 and 116 in 2020