Steppevibens vinterkvarter fundet?

Steppevibens vinterkvarter fundet?

Følgende e-mail er sendt ud på EBN:

Gianluca Serra (the Italian who discovered the Syrian (Eastern) Bald Ibis colony a few years ago just posted this message to the Italian EuroBirdNet.

"Yesterday a team made up of my former trainees from Palmyra (Syria) and Dutch birding friends discovered a huge concentration of Sociable Lapwings (Vanellus gregarius) - for the moment estimated at 1.250 birds. Habitat: open steppe in eastern Syria, east of the River Eurphrates (set in/under siege from fields of barley).

This species, as you know is classified as "Critically Endangered" since 2004 with the global population estimated at 1.200-1.800 birds (600 pairs).

The locals, it would seem, are saying that this "mass" of lapwings passes the entire winter in this part of eastern Syria. This could be the long sought-after wintering grounds for this species which was thought to lie somewhere between the Middle East and North-east Africa. Whatever, it is certainly an important stopover.

In addition the team have identified an important threat to the species' survival (unclear until now). Next to the flock they found an ultra-luxury camp of poachers from the Gulf States....

Gianluca Serra (Florence, Italy)

Tidligere estimater om kun 200 par/individer tilbage på verdensplan var dermed ikke korrekte, men derfor kan disse pessimistiske bestandsopgørelser desværre godt blive rigtige.

Med fund af Eremitibis og Steppevibe kan man håbe, at der er mere at finde i Syrien. Mon der også står Tyndnæbbet Spover et eller andet sted i Syrien?

Observationer af Steppevibe er fortsat af stor interesse for forskerne, således sendte Paul F Donald sidste år følgende e-mail på bl.a. the AfricanBirding list:

Apologies for cross postings. RSPB, working with a number of BirdLife Partners including the Association for the Conservation of Biodiversity in Kazakhstan (ACBK), the Russian Bird Conservation Union (RBCU) and the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), is currently working on a UK Government Darwin funded project on Sociable Lapwing (also known as Sociable Plover), Vanellus gregarius. As part of this research, we are putting together a database of all previous sightings of this species, to allow us to assess migration routes, breeding and winter distribution and habitat use. We would be grateful to receive any records at all of this species, even single birds, from any country, date or time of year. We would be particularly keen to receive any reports of colour-ringed birds. If you can help, please let me know.

Thanks and best wishes

Paul

Dr Paul F Donald
Senior Research Biologist
International Research Team
RSPB

Informationer skal sendes til Paul F. Donald på paul.donald@rspb.org.uk

For mere information om Steppevibens tilbagegang se evt. Netfugl her.