HERONS IN SPAIN AND EXTREMADURA. SURVEYS 2011.

SEO/BirdLife has published a monograph of the census results of breeding and wintering herons carried out in Spain in 2011 (Garrido et al. 2012). Although Extremadura is not renowned for its wetlands, rather the opposite, it ranks second after Andalusia, in terms of importance for wintering birds (32 900, 14% of Spain) and third in terms of breeding pairs (9,900 pairs, 15% of Spain, in 84 locations).

As a family, the herons are increasing and most of the studied species show increases in Spain. The night heron (Nycticorax Nycticorax) has risen from 1,300 in 1986 to 5,400 pairs in 2011. The squacco heron (Ardeolla ralloides) from 200 in 1980 to 2100 pairs in 2011. Grey heron (Ardea cinerea) from 168 in 1950 to 7,000 pairs in 2011. The purple heron (Ardea purpurea) from 2,000 in 1997-2003 to 5,400 pairs in 2011. The bittern (Botaurus stellaris) from 26 pairs in 1980 to 41 in 2011. And the great white egret (Egretta alba), which began breeding in 1997 in the Ebro Delta has gone to 53 pairs in 2011. By contrast decreases were detected in the little egret (Egretta garzetta), with a small drop in the last ten years, resulting in 2011 (9350 pairs) against 1990 figures (7,600 pairs) but lower than 2002 (10,400). The most abundant species is the only one who has suffered a significant decrease. We talked about the cattle egret (Bubulcus ibis), down from 70,000 pairs in 1989 to 40,000 in 2011. This is a species that has incresed during the twentieth century and whose population can fluctuate greatly depending on local conditions. Experts say that some species show strong expansions, then suffer a decline after which the population is consolidated and stabilized.

 

 

 

Garrido, J. R., Molina, B. y del Moral, J. C. (Eds). 2012. Las garzas en España. Población reproductora e invernante en 2010-2011 y método de censo. SEO/BirdLife. Madrid.

BREEDING HERON COUNT IN CÁCERES: PRELIMINARY RESULTS

Colony of Grey Herons (Ardea cinerea), 9 nests, and White Stork (Ciconia ciconia), 3 nests. The photograph shows the whole colony, built in a single dead Maritime Pine. The 9 Grey Heron nests break down into 5 nests with chicks of varying ages, two nests with sitting adults and two empty ones. Toril, Cáceres. 19-05-2011 (Javier Prieta). Click on the photo to see it bigger.

Now that summer has come for real, the breeding heron count in Cáceres is pretty much over. With some last-minute information still to come in, with the consequent tweaks and corrections, we can give a foretaste here of the final results, mainly to reward the participants and thank them for their sterling efforts. These thanks are fully deserved because the censusing team achieved practically complete coverage of the whole province. Once all the final results are in, especially from the province of Badajoz, which has bigger populations than Cáceres for most heron species, this blog intends to give a complete account of this final result. To see other entries on herons in Extremadura, click here.

Breeding heron count in the province of Cáceres. Preliminary results, 2011.

- Grey Heron. At least 44 colonies found with about a thousand breeding pairs between them. It is the most widespread heron species in the province, with presence in all the heron colonies found. Sharp upward trend.

- Cattle Egret. Present in only 6 colonies with a total of about 1700 pairs. Although it is still the most numerous of Extremadura's heron species, this is the lowest known figure for the species in Cáceres, with an appreciable downward trend, both in the number of colonies and the number of pairs.

- Little Egret. About 60 pairs found in 5 colonies, all mixed colonies with Cattle Egret. It has always been a scarce species in Cáceres and the present result is similar to previous counts (stable trend).

- Night Heron. One known colony (Arrocampo Reservoir) with about 20 pairs. Slight increase.

- Purple Heron. Estimated 46 pairs in the province's only breeding site (Arrocampo). Stable trend.

- Squacco Heron. At least three pairs, also in Arrocampo Reservoir. Stable trend.

- Great White Heron. After breeding for the first time in Arrocampo in 2010, at least two pairs are now nesting in the same site this year.

- There is no information on two heron species that were not targeted by the count: Little Bittern (common breeder) and Bittern (occasional breeder).

- Interesting spinoff Spoonbill information was also obtained during the heron count, with 4 breeding sites found accounting for a total of about 40 breeding pairs. These are the highest provincial figures, both in terms of colonies and breeding pairs (see 2010 figures). Upward trend.

From here we pass on our thanks to all participants and wish all blog readers a good summer.