postet: 12. september 2013 kl. 20:33 emne: breeding season honey buzzards 2013
I'm working on an article for Oriolus concerning massive honey buzzard migration in the Netherlands and Belgium on 25-26 of august (see http://www.trektellen.nl/dagrec.asp?telpostland=2&telpo... The concentration of honey buzzards was due to extraordinary weatherconditions, but still the amounts where big since there had been no major honey buzzard migration before 25 august in Denmark or Sweden (Falsterbo). I was wondering if this summer had an exceptional breeding succes for the species. Any info welcome!
postet: 12. september 2013 kl. 20:57 emne: Re: breeding season honey buzzards 2013
In south Scandinavia, Adult honey buzzards migrates late august to early september, whereas juveniles follows with the earliest (very few) 20-25 august and moderate numbers (normally not exceeding 50-100 per day on even the best sites, such as Falsterbo)occuring mainly in middle part of September. Few juveniles until now has been seen, so absolutely no exceptional numbers, perhaps lower than usually, indicating a poor breeding year. At least too early to conclude about juvenile migration. The passage in Netherlands must have consisted of adults.
The only remarkable day in south Scandinavia this year was 3. September, with 4100+ migrating at Falsterbo; the forth largest count of all times here.
postet: 13. september 2013 kl. 14:29 emne: Re: breeding season honey buzzards 2013
Thanks Klaus for the info. Also in Gruissan (France) large numbers of Honey Buzzards were counted on 1st of september (http://www.migraction.net/index.php?m_id=112&graph=synt... with 7123 ex. that day.
Same statement here: few juveniles on the move. I was informing about the breeding season because in fact, as you indicate, the opposite may be true: adults leave the breeding area sooner after a poor breeding year. Still the numbers of adults are very high in comparison to previous years. I wonder if the same tendency is shown on western counting spots in Tarifa and the strait of messina.
postet: 23. september 2013 kl. 11:27 emne: Re: breeding season honey buzzards 2013
I am at the moment in Malta, working with BirdLife Malta to protect migating raptors from being killed by poachers. I do not collect the numbers, but for your information about the theory of a poor breeding season for Honey Buzzards, it is my impression here, that except from a single day with good migration of Honey Buzzards, we do observe far less, especially juvenile Honey Buzzards than usual for this time of the year. It might be due to weather conditions, since Malta is a small country, but it could also very well be another sign of a poor breeding year, which here should indicate the situation for Central and Eastern Europe.
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postet: 12. september 2013 kl. 20:33 emne: breeding season honey buzzards 2013